Rumor has it
by shadowsontherun
Summary: "You think he's a virgin? Ha! Get your facts straight Stark before you open your mouth. Let's get out of here handsome," Natasha said to Steve as she whipped out her black sunglasses and sauntered down the hall with a hundred mouths hitting the floor behi
1. Chapter 1

**rumor has it**

**What if Natasha and Clint were never together even after the avengers happened? What if Natasha was fed up with her stalemate relationship with her partner and decided to get his attention the best way she could think of? **

_**Jealousy**_** is something Natasha Romanoff is very, very good at enticing. **

**Sometimes **_**too**_** good. **

**Chapter 1 **

6 tired and battle wary avengers stood in Fury's office with matching desperate look on their faces.

"Why the paperwork?" Tony wailed.

"When are all these reports due anyway?" Clint said staring at the massive pile of papers sitting on the table in front of them.

"Can we please do this later? I am exhausted! Do you people know how hard it is to run 7 miles in 5 inch heels?" Natasha said incredulously. They all winced – no thank god they did _not_.

"I don't care how you 6 decide to divide the work – just get that shit done and out of my sight!" Fury growled. They all gave the director a dirty look.

"You just don't want to do all of this by _yourself_," Clint said narrowing his eyes at his boss. Fury's face never changed.

"Correct – now get out," he said frankly. They all blinked – well that was a simple confession.

"You're a _dictator_!" Tony exclaimed pointing a finger at the director. Fury gave him a blank look. "That wasn't very insulting was it?" Tony grumbled dropping his hand to his side.

"No Stark – you're losing your touch. All of you _out_ – except for Agent Romanoff and Barton," Fury said shooing the other 4 avengers out the door. Bruce and Thor shared a look – like hell they were sticking around.

"Bye guys!" Bruce said before he shot down the hall with a speedy Thor hot on his tail.

"Wait for me Bruce! I want to try the next recipe too!" Thor's voice boomed down the hall.

"Do I _want_ to know…?" Fury said slowly. They all glanced at the two invincible men running down the hall.

"No," they said in unison.

"Alright then – Stark, Cap – kindly remove yourselves from my presence," Fury said pointing to the door.

"What? Why do you 3 get to have a super-secret meeting after _our_ super-secret meeting?" Tony said suspiciously. Steve grabbed Tony by the collar and dragged him down the hall.

"Stark every time you open your mouth that's more paperwork on my desk. So do us all a favour and SHUT UP!" Steve said glaring at the whining man in his grip.

"But Cap - it's not fair!" Tony wailed. Steve rolled his eyes.

"_Life_ is not fair Tony," Steve said shaking his head at the genius' dramatic tears.

Fury turned back to his best two agents when the noise had finally died down.

"I have an important mission for the two of you if you would like to accept it. It's going to be a week in the savannah desert where you will be locating a runaway cloning expert who had decided to piss off the wrong people and shared his work with the wrong sources. This is however _not_ an avengers mission," Fury said as he read off his notes. She noticed the sweat break out across Clint's forehead the minute Fury said non-avenger mission.

"Um…I don't I can do this mission Fury – I dislocated my shoulder pretty badly during our last mission so my aim is not 100% yet. I think I need another week before I can take on a serious mission," he said quickly shooting down the offer. Natasha tensed beside him.

She _knew_ he was lying. That wasn't what got to her though. It was the fact that he no longer seemed to want to do _any_ solo mission with her. He denied the last solo mission as well due to other priorities.

"And you Romanoff?" Fury said turning towards the silent Russian.

"If Barton can't do it – it's better to give the mission to another team that works efficiently _together_. Partner missions require teamwork and _trust_," she said giving her partner a pointed look. Clint winced.

"Okay then – I guess I shall give the mission to agent Jones…" Fury said slowly waiting for either of them to reconsider. They didn't.

"Are we done here sir?" she asked blankly. Fury gave her a measured look.

"Yes agent Romanoff - you made go," Fury said with a sigh.

Natasha locked eyes with her partner before she spun around and walked away. Sometimes it hurt a lot to be the emotionless spy.

Fury gave Barton a deadly glare.

"You better have a less shitty reason the next time a mission comes up Barton. Or I'll start asking questions you _don't_ want me to," Fury said warningly. Clint stared after his silently fuming partner and sighed.

"Is torturing yourself with what you can't have not reason enough director?" he said quietly.

**rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it**

_**3 hours later.**_

"Quick it's the Captain hide the magazine!" the junior agent said as Steve walked past the jumpy agents. He paused as they nervously started inching down the hall.

"You know I'm not going to bite your head off just because you have a book full of beautiful women right?" Steve said warily.

"THE SAINT KNOWS! HE KNOWS! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" they whispered before they shot down the hall at neck breaking speeds.

Steve sighed.

"Why do they always do that?" Steve asked staring at the ceiling.

"Cause you still got your stinking V card even after _96 years_Cap. You ain't ever going to live that one down," Tony said as he walked past the depressed soldier.

"That's it? They make fun of my every day because of that one little thing?" Steve asked incredulously. Tony shrugged.

"What can I say? We live in a fickle world Cap. I get booked for having too many beautiful women - you get booked for having..._none_," Tony said with a cringe. Steve narrowed his eyes.

"There is more to a girl then just her looks Stark!" Steve said heatedly. Tony took out a marker from his pocket and started drawing a stick figure on the white wall beside him.

"Crash course in 21st century Philosophy. This? This lonely guy is you without any 'women' to keep you warm at night," Tony said pointing to the sad face stick man in the corner. He then draw a huge stick man beside the tiny Steve drawing, added some sunglasses, a tequila shot, a couch made out of cash, 10 womanly shaped stick figures hugging Mr. awesome stick figure and some bling bling around the stick man's neck to top off the effect. "And this? This is everything you _ain't_, yet all the things the simple minded people of the today's world consider cool and signs that scream successful," Tony said pointing to his busy picture on the right. Steve opened his mouth to say something but Tony beat him too it.

"Say the words respect, decency, gentlemanliness or god forbid shame and I will walk away _right _now," Tony said frankly. Steve went beat red. Tony patted the poor solider on the shoulder.

"It's alright Steve - embrace your squeaky cleanness it's the only way you'll ever survive," Tony said before sticking the marker into the frozen soldier's hand and strolling away whistling a catchy tune as he went. Poor Cap.

Steve shook himself out of his shock just as the director rounded the corner and zoned in on the graffiti style art on the wall with the evidence sitting in Steve's hand.

"ROGERS! WHY ARE YOU DOODLING ON MY WALLS LIKE A 5 YEAR OLD?" Fury growled. Steve suddenly cracked.

"I'M NOT A CHILD!" he shouted back angrily on instinct.

Silence.

Steve paled as Fury narrowed his eye.

"What did you say soldier?" Fury asked dangerously. Steve gulped.

"Um...I'll get a scrub?" Steve squeaked. Fury gave him the stink eye.

"You better," Fury said darkly before he continued his way down the hall. Steve stared down at the marker in his hand with a sour look on his face.

"Damn you Stark…" Steve muttered angrily.

**rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it**

"Hey Captain. Can you take this to agent Romanoff for me? It's some files she forgot to take with her from the debrief meeting," Hill said as she held out a folder for the Cap to take.

"Where is she?" Steve asked slowly.

"In her quarters," Maria said going back to her own reports. Steve paled. The only time agent Romanoff was ever in her quarters was when she was sleeping. And she was a _beast _when you tried to wake her up from one of her long overdue naps.

"Captain? Is something wrong?" Agent Hill asked warily as she glanced up at the frozen Captain. He shook himself out of his thoughts and gave Hill a wary smile.

"No nothing is wrong...why ever would you think that agent Hill?" Steve mumbled as he walked away.

10 minutes later Steve fearfully stood in front of agent Romanoff's room debating on whether or not he should just slide the files under her door and run.

"Come on Steve! The least you could do is be brave enough to face your own team mate," Steve muttered before he raised his hand to knock on her door. He made one knock and it swung right open. He froze as he stared into the dark abyss - his response was a loud snore.

Huh. So she really was fast asleep._ Just get in and out. In and out. In and out._He chanted to himself in his head.

"I'll just place this here..." Steve whispered as he tiptoed into her room and tried to slide the folders under her alarm clock. He pulled back too fast, hit her lamp and fell flat on his face. The next thing he knew he had his breath knocked right out of him as he was shoved into the floor with a knife held to his throat and an angry half-dressed agent sitting on top of him.

"How the hell did you get in my room?" Natasha hissed. Steve paled.

"Wait Natasha-" BAM! She swiftly kneed him where it hurts.

"Oh my _god_!" he wheezed falling to his knees.

"Steve?" Natasha said sleepily as she squinted at the groaning blond man.

"I'm...never going to be able to have children," he croaked.

"Oh grow up you big baby!" Natasha said rolling her eyes at his dramatics. She haphazardly tossed the knife under her bed and crawled her way back under her covers.

"You're just going to go back to sleep after practically assaulting me?" Steve exclaimed. The ex-Russian spy gave him a look that clearly said _why-are-you-still-here?_

"Get out Steve before I really kick your ass," she said simply before she fell back onto her pillow. Steve winced as he pulled himself up into a sitting position and leaned his back against her bedside table.

"Hey Natasha...are we friends?" he asked suddenly. Natasha poked her head from behind her covers and gave him a curious look.

"I don't do '_friends_' Cap - but for the sake of my sanity - sure why not?" Natasha said propping her head in her right hand.

"Have you ever had people spread nasty rumors about you at some point in your life?" he asked quietly.

She paused.

"Steve...I was a high profile _assassin_. Lies, rumors and scandals were my life," she said blankly. He winced.

"Right sorry - forget I asked," he said shaking his head and getting up to leave. It was a bad idea anyway. Natasha watched the depressed solider with wary eyes.

"Don't let a bunch of assholes define your life Steve. Life is not only about getting it on with a million women and money you know," she said quietly as he reached the door.

"Stark seemed to think those were one of the top two priorities," Steve said warily. Natasha gave him a look of disbelief.

"Are you really leaving _Stark_ to define the meaning of life?" she asked dryly. He paused.

"Good point," he said with a grimace.

"What's really bothering you Steve?" she asked.

'I just wish I could do something that would finally show these people that I'm not this saint like being that is always work and no fun. It's hard to do anything too crazy when there is always someone there to be one '_uh oh Steve's here we'd better be all prime and proper now!'_I really hate that," he said as he clenched his fists.

"What are you going to do?" she asked tilting her to the side. He sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know yet. But I'll manage," he said quietly.

"Do you want me to fix it?" Natasha asked suddenly. He gave her a cautious look.

"What?"

"Your reputation - I can fix it," she said with a funny look in her eye. Steve gave her a wary look.

"When you say _fix_..." he said slowly.

She smiled and raised an eyebrow.

His mouth hit the floor and he immediately scrambled back until his back hit the far wall.

"No!" he said in horror.

She burst out laughing.

"You don't have to sleep with me Steve - though I am slightly insulted you are so horrified at the thought. If you want to kill a rumor like this Cap - you have to create your own," she said with a shrug.

"But, but, but..." he stuttered.

"What, am I not pretty enough to lose your fake virginity too?" She said warily. Steve looked like he was about to faint.

"NO! YES? Wait no what I mean is that...well you are a beautiful woman Natasha... you have...eh...the curves..." he said awkwardly making the wavy hour glass figure with his hands.

"Spit it out Steve," she said dryly.

"I...I just-"

She gasped.

"You're _gay_!" she shouted nearly falling off her bed.

"NO!" he denied frantically.

"I KNEW YOU HAD A THING WITH COULSON!" she shouted jumping up and down on her bed.

"HELL NO - wait where did you hear _that_?" he said in utter disbelief.

"Oh so you haven't heard _all_ the rumors," she said with a wince. He groaned and dropped his head in his hands.

"I'm doomed - just take your gun and shoot me now Natasha," he mumbled into his hands. Natasha sighed and crouched down beside the tormented young man.

"Can't do that Cap - my ledger is already too crowded as it is," she said quietly patting him on the shoulder.

"If...if we made this rumor up...it would just be pretend right?" he said hesitantly. She paused - wow.

"Are you sure?" she asked warily. She _really_ didn't think he would take her up on her offer.

"Yeah…yeah I'm sure," he said as he remembered all those stupid ass comments snarky agents made every day behind his back. Sometimes super hearing is a curse.

"Alright then. Let's give them a show then Cap," she said letting out her hair and fluffing it to massive proportions. His eyes widened as she walked into her closet.

"Wait _what_?" he asked in shock while he sat on the ground. A _SHOW_?

What did he just start?

"How slutty do you want your first imaginary bang to be Steve?" she asked poking her head out of her closet. He gaped at the skimpy pieces of fabric in her hand.

"But you're not a-a-a slut! You spend hours sharpening your shooting skills and in your free time you train - well more like make junior agents cry during their hand to hand combat training sessions!" he said in disbelief. Natasha scoffed.

"Hey - that last agent was a baby! All I did was dislocate his shoulder! I was even nice enough to pop it back into place so that it would heal faster!" she exclaimed.

"Natasha...the man had 3 broken ribs, a fractured knee cap and a black eye. The shoulder popping nearly triggered a heart attack," he said blankly.

"...that's what the bastard gets for trying to grope me in a fight..." she said dangerously.

Steve gave her a look.

"Why are you doing this Natasha?" Steve asked cautiously. Natasha leaned against her closet doorframe and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Let's just say I'm sick of being the dark and deadly lone Russian assassin," she said vaguely.

"What's so degrading about that image?" he asked slowly.

"Apparently the lone wolf image makes you very unapproachable," she muttered under her breath however his super hearing picked it up easily.

"Seems like you have someone in mind," he said warily. She shrugged not willing to confirm or deny his comment.

"I'll help you and you'll help me – deal?" she said sticking out her hand. He slowly accepted her hand shake.

"Deal," he said cautiously.

"Let's just get one thing straight - you're really not gay right?" she asked curiously.

Steve flushed a deep shade of red.

"NATASHA!" he cried. She held her hands above her head.

"Okay! Okay! Just making sure!" she said with a laugh.

_20 minutes later. _

"You ready Cap?" Natasha whispered as they leaned against a wall right around a corner that led into a busy SHIELD hallway filled with hundreds of potential witnesses. This was a one shot deal.

"I'm really starting to regret this…" he whispered nervously. She glared at him.

"Be a man!" she said shoving him forward.

"I don't even know what a man is anymore!" he cried.

"Are they starting to look?" she asked as she turned around to face the nervous Captain leaning against the wall. He nodded.

"Yeah…" he said slowly.

"Good - just don't faint," she said as she stared at him.

"Why would I do that?" he asked in confusion.

"Because part of this has to be believable," she said before she grabbed him by his shirt and slammed her mouth down on top of his.

Massive mob of agents gasped in unison behind them.

If anyone was _really_ paying attention they would've noticed Steve's skin tone suddenly turned 100 shades lighter. The man was about to have a _heart attack_ from the shock. Natasha quickly unlocked the closet door behind them and pushed him inside. She slammed the door behind them and they both leaned against the wall trying to catch their breath.

"Everyone just saw that!" he gasped. She snorted.

"That was the point Steve…" she whispered.

"Oh right," he said with a wince.

"Ready?" she whispered out of breath. He gave her a nervous look.

"NO!" he whispered back in panic. She snorted.

"Too bad!" she hissed before she slammed her back into the door and pulled him towards her.

"Oh! Steve! Oh my god! Where have you been all my life?" she cried dramatically banging her head against the door.

"What am I supposed to do?" he whispered. She rolled her eyes.

"Just hit something! Sound like you're having the time of your life boy!" she said as she tweaked his nose. He looked more like he was about to sneeze.

"Um okay..." he said as he cleared his throat. "HOW HARD DO YOU WANT IT NATASHA? ARE YOU SURE YOU CAN HANDLE THIS?" Steve shouted a slamming his both his hands beside her head and staring at her with the most intense gaze he could manage. They both heard her silent intake of breath.

"That's intense - good job," she whispered.

"I CAN HANDLE ANYTHING BABY!" she shouted as she stared back at him. They could both hear a pin drop on the other side of the door. Everyone had stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the closed door.

"OH STEVE!" Natasha cried kicking her foot against the door for the finale.

"OH NATASHA!"

"OH MY GOD!" Maria Hill said in shock dropping her files to the floor as she passed the publicly visible closet that had a hundred agents crowded around it.

"What the _hell _is going on?" she asked in disbelief. Everyone instantly shushed her.

"SHHH! They're still in there!" one of the overexcited agent squealed. Agent Hill gave the younger agent a disturbed look. She was concerned for the sanity levels of the next generation of SHIELD agents.

Suddenly the closet door slammed open and every single agent in the hall scrambled to resume what they were originally doing. It was like the entire hall had frozen as Natasha and Steve played out their audio show for a full 5 minutes. Natasha's hair was puffed up and tangled while Steve's beautiful locks were sticking out and all angles. They both looked thoroughly ruffled with half their buttons done up wrong. If that wasn't damning enough the slight lipstick smug on Steve's face sealed the deal. The captain and black widow had it _on_. This information went viral instantaneously.

"WHAT THE HELL? You- Cap – Red- 3 hours ago! _Virgin_ – WHAT?" Tony Stark was the first person to break the dead silence of utter shock – however his brain had not quite caught up with mouth yet.

"You think he's a virgin? Ha! Get your facts straight Stark before you open your big mouth," she said with a snort.

Natasha spun around and blew Steve a kiss and walked away from the ruffled solider.

"Bye handsome!" she called back sending him a wink for everyone to see. The red that crept up the soldier's neck was nearly dark enough to make him look like a half ripped tomato.

For the first time the whispers that followed him around had nothing to do with his apparent uptightness. Instead they had everything to do with Natasha and him and their suddenly very public display of affection.

How far can a rumor go anyway?

**rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it****  
**

**1 hour later. **

Apparently rumors flew as far as the corners of the internet could reach.

Natasha hanged upside down from Steve's bed as she read through the latest SHIELD gossip blog on her tablet.

"Ha! Hey Cap did you read this yet? They think your Mr. Sex bomb now!" Natasha said cracking up at the stupid junior agents who literally had nothing better to do. Just yesterday they were calling him an uptight saint! How pathetic could they get?

"Yeah - my reputation has suddenly gone through the roof...but Natasha...I'm not sure we can say the same about yours..." Steve said slowly. Natasha snorted.

"Psh. Don't worry about it Steve - I have a gun, an archer and 20 years of martial arts under my belt. Nothing can touch this," Natasha said reading through the hilariously heated debates about the nature of the relationship between the Captain and the black widow. These sad simpletons.

"What does Clint think about this anyway?" Steve asked cautiously. Natasha smiled from behind her tablet screen – what _was _her dear partner thinking at the moment?

**rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it - rumor has it**

**At the same exact moment.  
**  
"NATASHA SAID _WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT_?" Clint shouted at the top of his lungs.

Tony pressed replay on the screen behind him.

_"You think he's a virgin? Ha! Get your facts straight Stark before you open your big mouth. Bye handsome!" Natasha said with just as much sass the first time around.  
_  
"I UNDERSTOOD IT THE FIRST TIME!" Clint shouted slapping Stark upside the head.

"OI! What on earth is she doing?" Tony said rubbing his bruised skull.

"I don't know Stark - but if she keeps it up SHIELD will never be the same again," Clint said in horror.

"When do you think it started?" Tony asked warily. Clint froze as the reality of that statement hit him square in the face. Natasha and him have been on the Avengers for two years. They've known Steve fucking Rogers for two _years_. _Oh my god…_

"I'm leaving," Clint growled before he spun around and stalked out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Tony called out after the fuming archer.

"_Out_," Clint said darkly.

Tony winced as the door slammed behind him nearly breaking off its hinges.

"JARVIS…what are the chances of this entire mess going explosively, horribly, disastrously wrong?" Tony asked warily.

"Sir…I would need a larger circuit board to calculate how close to 100% that number would be," JARVIS replied in his robotic voice.

"Oh dear Pepper – we have crisis on the horizon," Tony said slowly.

**A/N: Poor agent Hill and Barton – they were traumatized. **

**You know as much Natasha and Steve think they are solving their individual problems…rumors have a way of exploding way out of proportion.  
**

**However…Clint is **_**pissed**_**. Score 1 for Natasha? : 0 for Evil. **

**Steve is no longer a "righteous virgin"– Score 1 for Steve? : 0 for evil. **

**Let's keep track for the rest of the story…the numbers might surprise you.**

**Let me know if I should continue! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Rumour has it **

**Chapter 2 **

Several hours after things had relatively died down – SHIELD was no longer a madhouse of nearly comatose agents. There was a lot of mental scarring that occurred today.

Natasha was walking down a hall in the SHIELD base and felt a million eyes follow her every step. She looked up from her mission reports and watched as everyone instantly looked away and started walking faster.

So maybe she had overdone it with the closet incident.

Oh well – she could have fun with this.

"Hey agent Greene," she called out to a jumpy little junior agent.

"Y-y-y-es Agent Romanoff?" he squeaked. She raised an eyebrow as his shaking form. She snorted – he wasn't even _close_ to being her type.

"Where is agent Barton?" she asked tilting her head to side. She noticed everyone freeze – huh.

"Barton? Why are you looking for Barton?" he asked in confusion. She gave him a weird look.

"Because he's my partner…?" she said slowly. Was it just her – or were the new batch of SHIELD agents just getting duller and dumber as the years go by?

"I thought you were guys had terminated your partnership this morning?" he said hesitantly.

Natasha froze and nearly dropped her reports on to the ground.

"WHAT?" she shouted. They all cowered in fear. She stalked over to quivering agents and grabbed agent Greene by the collar of his uniform.

"You better not being making this up Greene. If this is another one of those bullshit rumors I will tear you _limb_ by limb," she said dangerously. Agent Greene looked like he was about to piss himself.

"W-we're not sure! Agent Hill was talking about something with Fury an hour or two ago! I swear! It's all over the building by now!" he stammered as his entire body trembled in fear. Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"If I find out you were lying I will _hunt_ you down and kill you," she said before she dropped him onto the floor and stalked away angrily. The poor junior agent sunk to the floor as he started to hyperventilate. The woman was dangerous.

Natasha stomped down the hall – she was angry about the rumors however relatively confident that Barton would _never_ do that.

Right?

Natasha whipped out her cell and called Steve's number. She let the call ring for a few seconds.

BEEP.

No answer.

"Where is everyone?" she muttered as she stared at her phone. She spun around and started heading towards the exit.

Something was up in the tower.

And she had a feeling she knew what.

**20 minutes later. The storm had arrived. **

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Clint shouted as he stormed into the Avengers common and made a beeline for the bewildered Captain sitting on the couch going over mission reports with Bruce and Tony.

"What are you talking about Clint?" Steve asked slowly.

"Do you _know_ what they're saying? Do you know where I had to hear about this - this - this whatever this is from NICK FUCKING FURY HIMSELF?" Clint exclaimed angrily.

"Are you talking about the rumors about me and Natasha?" Steve asked in realization. Clint looked like he was about to explode.

"It's not a fucking rumor after what happened this morning!" he shouted.

"Why are you so angry Clint?" Steve asked narrowing his eyes. He was getting a little ticked off with all the unfounded accusations being thrown his way. He didn't even have time to explain!

"Oh you haven't seen angry pretty boy," Clint said darkly. They were all so absorbed into the show down that they didn't notice a new person enter the room.

Natasha narrowed her eyes as she silently fumed while standing in the doorway leading into the common room.

They were all too blind to notice her presence in the heat of the moment.

"Why the hell did you choose now to hook up with her? Where have you been the last 2 years?" Clint shouted shoving the soldier into the wall behind them.

"Where have you been for the last 6 Barton? You two were partners for _four_ years before the avengers happened. Don't blame me for _your_ mistake," Steve shot back. He was seriously getting pissed off by the raging jealous archer.

Clint narrowed his eyes…and promptly punched the soldier in the face. Too bad the results weren't that satisfying.

"Aw shit! That freaking _hurts_!" Clint groaned as he cradled his broken fist painfully. It was like punching a titanium wall!

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Steve shouted holding his bruised cheek. Clint glared at him fiercely.

"THAT WAS ME TRYING TO BASH YOUR STUPID PERFECT FACE IN!" Clint shot back angrily.

"IF YOU'RE SO JEALOUS WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING TO HER BEFORE?" Steve growled as he clenched his fists beside him. Clint froze.

BANG!

They both glanced at the fuming redheaded agent with a smoking gun in her hand.

"I AM NOT A PRIZE TO BE FOUGHT OVER!" Natasha shouted ending the massive argument between master assassin and soldier.

Tony whistled in the background.

"Someone is going to die," he whispered to Bruce.

"YOU WILL NOT TALK ABOUT ME AS IF I'M NOT STANDING RIGHT BESIDE YOU -UNDERSTOOD?" she said dangerously. They both paled at the fire raging in her eyes.

"Yes ma'am!" Steve squeaked. Clint wasn't as smart.

"But Natasha!" he started to say. She narrowed her eyes and pointed her gun right between his eyes. That promptly shut him up.

"What the hell _is_ your problem Barton?" she asked incredulously. She was truly confused. He's never showed any interest in her before today. They would always be partners - that's what he always said.

"I-I-I just...you...this...I-I can't do this," he whispered in defeat. He stepped away from her gun and sprinted down the hall leaving a confused Russian spy in his wake.

"Did I miss something?" she asked turning towards the rest of her team.

"Natasha - he's been in love with you since the day you two met. Didn't you know?" Steve said cautiously. She froze.

"What?" she said as she lost her grip on her gun and they all watched as the weapon clattered to the floor.

**A/N: Uh oh. We've hit our first road block.  
**

**Round 2 **

**Clint has run away - Natasha 0: Evil 1 **

**Steve got socked in the face - Steve 0: Evil 1 **

**Not looking good. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 -Before the war starts  
**

"After the epic fail showdown between Hawk and soldier for the hand of the spider we have come to an impasse," Tony said dramatically adding a large mustache onto his stick figure version of the Cap getting socked in the face by a shorter stick figure with smoking come out of his ears. The man liked his stick people…

"Shut up Tony - nobody cares about your commentary," Bruce said as he typed up his research on his laptop sitting on the only clean surface in their lab. The place was a mess!

"But did you see how ballistic Barton went? Who's crazy enough to actually try and punch a super soldier?" Tony asked incredulously.

"You know Tony... When you're always scared you're going to lose someone and one day you wake up and you find out that you did? It makes you go a little crazy," Bruce said quietly as he took out a file from the cabinet beside him. Tony glanced down at his doodles and up at the wise doctor.

"Bruce...tone down the wise insights - sometimes you make me feel...less awesome about my brain," Tony mumbled as he continued his drawing of their teammates in their epic love triangle. Bruce snorted.

"You want insight? What if Afghanistan never happened? What if Iron Man never happened? Would've you have still realized that you loved Pepper and _actually_ be able to become the type of man she deserves? _Without_ being forced to see reason because of a life altering disaster?" Bruce asked ambiguously.

"Ahhhhh! Stop it Bruce!" Tony shouted covering his ears with his palms. The truth was too much! Bruce was about to deliver the killing blow when he noticed an odd looking figure in Tony's drawing.

"Why does one of your stick figures look like a pear...?" Bruce asked furrowing his brow in confusion. Tony paused in his dramatics and glanced down at the page in front of him.

"Oh that's Red if she doesn't stop stealing my _god damn _cookies every day," Tony said adding a spider sign on the Natasha stick figure.

WHACK!

"Oh my god! That's hurt Brucie!" Tony wailed as he held his head in pain. Bruce pushed his glasses over his nose as he held his newspaper roll of discipline in his hand.

"Stop drawing deformed pictures of our teammates and do something productive or I'm _leaving_," Bruce said warningly.

"No Bruce don't leave me! You're the only one who understands meeeee!" Toy said as he latched onto Bruce's arm like a leech. Bruce sighed and shook his head.

"No Tony, I don't understand you at all. I am simply the only person in the world who can actually stand you," Bruce said warily.

**Rumor has it – rumor has it – rumor has it– rumor has it– rumor has it– rumor has it– rumor has it**

The following day the SHIELD base had become a hunting ground between assassin and the _one_ _to be verbally assassinated_.

Natasha purposefully walked down the hall with one goal and one goal only.

Find Clint god damn Barton.

Because apparently he was avoiding her since the episode that went down at the tower yesterday.

She had spent her _entire_ day trying to find this missing archer – she has this feeling that she's only missing him by a split second every single time. She tried the shoot range – the machine was still running when she walked in and the back door was swinging back and forth. She tried one of the debrief rooms and found several bewildered looking agents with papers scattered around the table. She tried the boiler room for crying out loud! And even then the door was not locked.

Someone was trying _damn_ hard not to be found.

Natasha paused as she noticed a wave of brown hair flicker around the corner with a loud crash following it down the hall.

"BARTON WHY ARE YOU RUNNING LIKE THE DEVIL IS ON YOUR TAIL?" Fury roared from around the corner.

Natasha's eye twitched. She was considered worst them the devil was she? She spun around and stalked down the other end of the hall. SHIELD hallways were interestingly mapped out.

_5 minutes later. _

Clint was nervously making his way towards the front doors – he might just go home early today considering he couldn't even sit down for a second. He glanced over his shoulder warily to make sure he wasn't being followed by someone he desperately didn't want to see right now. He was so preoccupied with watching the hallway behind him that he didn't notice the angry Russian spy standing right in front of him.

The next thing he knew he crashed right into her. He nearly knocked them both over but managed to steady them before they hit the floor. He slowly looked up at the blazing eyes of his angry partner and froze.

Oh shit.

"You're avoiding me," she accused staring him straight in the eye. He promptly dropped his hands from around her shoulder and paled.

"No I'm not," he said backing away. She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him.

"Why are you avoiding me?" she asked narrowing her eyes.

"It's only been 14 hours since I last saw you Natasha – I don't see how that is long enough to be considered actively avoiding," he said uneasily.

"Tell me you weren't in the shooting range this morning and I'll believe you," she said challengingly.

He paled even more – he couldn't do that.

"What's going on Barton? I feel like we're falling apart and we haven't even done anything," she said quietly. He groaned and dragged his hands down his face.

"I know Tasha! I know that and that's why I'm trying so hard not to let things change!" he said desperately. She paused.

"But why don't you want things to change…?" she asked slowly. He froze.

"Do _you_ want them to?" he asked suddenly.

CRASH!

They both glanced at the agent who had just dropped a million dollars' worth of technology and started getting a dress down from a senior agent.

"AGENT ROSS! WHY ARE YOU SO CLUMSY?" the senior agent barked at the quivering junior agent.

She looked back at her own partner.

He was gone.

"Barton you coward! Why do you _always_ run away?" she shouted down the hall.

She got silence in return.

"Fine! You want to act stubborn and childish? I'll show you stubbornness like you've never seen before," she said dangerously before she spun around and stalked away.

Clint leaned against the far wall around the corner and winced as he heard her stomped down the hall and out the front door.

He wasn't ready to face Natasha's questions yet – he wasn't ready to hear the answers himself.

**Rumor has it – rumor has it – rumor has it– rumor has it– rumor has it– rumor has it– rumor has it**

An hour later Natasha was pacing back and forth in Steve's apartment while he sat on his kitchen table and tried to sketch an image of her righteously pissed face and the steam practically coming out of her ears.

"UGH!" she shrieked. Steve raised an eyebrow at her cry of frustration. He only knew _one_ person in the world that could make her this angry. And it wasn't Tony Stark.

"So how was your day…?" Steve asked conversationally.

"He _pisses_ me off!" she shouted as she continued to pace in front of the calm soldier.

"What did he do?" he asked as he squinted his eyes while trying to get the right angle of her cheek bone.

"That's the thing! He did nothing at all! He just won't talk to me!" she growled.

"Well if you crowd him too much of course he'll freak out and run away," Steve said wisely. Natasha froze in her pacing.

"Are you defending the guy who tried but failed to give you a black eye…?" Natasha asked slowly.

"Trust me…It hurt him _way_ more than it hurt me – and that is _not_ an exaggeration," Steve said he continued to add in the details to his drawing. She blinked.

"He's still an _asshole_!" she said as she kicked the wall beside her angrily. Steve raised an eyebrow at her angry actions.

"Of course he is…" Steve said dryly as he sketched the angry lines on her forehead. She was _very_ expressive when she was mad.

"Are you patronizing me?" she asked dangerously. Steve has long since become immune to her ranting mood swings. Unless she was pointing a gun at him - he was safe.

"Would I do that?" he asked staring at her nose and trying to get the roundness just right. She scowled at him.

"You know what? If he is going to be such a bastard I'm not going to tell him _anything_!" Natasha said angrily throwing her gun across the room and smashing it against the wall. Steve winced – he'd have to fix the dent later.

"What do you mean Natasha…?" he asked cautiously as he held three shades of red pencil crayons in front of her. She picked the darkest one and handed it back to him. He started shading in the red tint of her hair as she continued to rant at him.

"I mean I'm not going to be the one to chase after him. I'm done waiting! I'm going to show him I don't need him – there are plenty of nice guys out ther-" she paused as she watched him make the last swipe of his pencil to complete his sketch of her furious expression – it was actually so accurate she might have burn it.

_Ding_ – she had an idea. The hair's on the back of Steve's neck suddenly stood on end. Uh oh.

"...Congratulations Steve – I'm now your first girlfriend," she said darkly. Steve paled.

"I don't think I've even been asked out quite like that before," he said nervously. She lightened up on the darkness swirling around her and gave Steve an apologetic look.

"Sorry– I won't drag you into if you don't want to," she said reluctantly.

"I have a feeling that even if I back out now – he still might try to kill me anyway," Steve said dryly. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Steve, quite frankly you're extremely difficult to kill," she said dryly.

"Why do I have this feeling you know just the way to do it quickly then…?" Steve asked warily. Natasha smirked.

"Because it's my job to know how – though I promise never to use my considerable skills against you," she said patting him on the shoulder.

"What do boyfriends usually do exactly….?" Steve asked suddenly. Natasha looked like she was about to start another rant when she froze as she took in his question.

_Cricket…cricket…cricket…_

"This is the part where you tell me it's okay and that you know how these things work – isn't it?" Steve asked slowly.

The crickets had started an orchestra.

_Crickeeeet….crrrrrickett…..cricket…_

"You've never dated anyone in your life have you?" he said dryly.

"Nope but it can't be that hard," she said with a shrug. Steve groaned.

"More fake rumors…joy…" Steve muttered as he was dragged out of his own house while his picture of Natasha lay forgotten on his kitchen table.

**Rumor has it – rumor has it – rumor has it– rumor has it– rumor has it– rumor has it– rumor has it**

"Can I make some rules in our scandalous however fake relationship?" Steve asked suddenly as they walked towards the SHIELD cafeteria.

"Sure…though that makes you sound like the girl in the relationship…" Natasha said with a shrug. Steve scowled at her.

"How would _you_ know Miss_ I-was-too-busy-being-trained-to-take-out-every-size-of-an-ooponent-imaginable-to-date-ayone_?" Steve muttered.

"Just spit it out Steve," she said impatiently.

"Can we please not do anymore not so secret closets liaisons with a one hundred plus audience?" he asked warily.

"What, you're being modest _now_?" she asked incredulously.

"No, I just don't want to be fired from the only job I have the qualifications for," he said frankly.

"You could be an artist if you wanted to Steve," Natasha said sending a pointed look at his charcoal covered palms.

"I make next to squat at the moment Natasha. I would be making _dirt_ as a new aspiring artist," he said with a sigh.

"Usually the things you like the most is what you end up doing. Anyway – ready for round 2?" she asked as they stood in front of the monstrous doors of the SHIELD cafeteria – home to the breeding grounds of all rumors destined to circulate throughout the organization. What's a better place to announce their scandalous relationship then here?

"Sometimes Natasha…I wonder what our lives would be like if you used all those diabolical brain cells in your head for evil instead of channeling all that brainpower into stuff like this," Steve said warily. Natasha was too preoccupied with making sure that Barton wasn't in the room less they have another showdown.

"Huh?" she asked as she glanced back at the weary solider.

"I feel like the frequently forgotten boyfriend," Steve mumbled with a heavy sigh. Natasha was beautiful – but she was _bat shit insane_ too.

May her and Barton have a wonderfully insane life together.

"Okay he's not there - let's go," she said grabbed his hand and dragging him through the door. She still held on to his hand as they walked around several occupied tables. The number of eyes burning into the back of their heads was unimaginable.

Gasp.

They sat down at one of the empty tables at the back of the room and Steve leaned in to whisper something in her ear.

Gasp.

"Why do SHIELD agents gasp so much?" he asked in a hushed tone. Natasha fake laughed like he had told her a funny joke. He gave her reaction a bewildered look – why was she doing that?

"Because we are the last two people on earth to be in love," she whispered back as she messed up his hair a little bit.

More gasps.

"Hey, I thought was loveable?" he exclaimed. She snorted.

"Cute and cuddly is not the way to win a female SHIELD agent's heart Steve," she said dryly. Steve paused.

"Being an asshole is though right…?" he said giving her a look. She glanced away from his questioning eyes.

"Why do you never want Clint to _actually_ see us Natasha?" he asked slowly.

"Cause he can tell when I'm lying…" she said with a wince. Steve gave her a blank look.

"I don't understand your relationship with him," he said honestly.

"Neither do I," she said dryly. He suddenly curled a red strand of hair around her ear.

"Is that okay?" he whispered.

"Yeah…." she said staring back at him.

A _hell_ of a lot more gasps. They weren't being very subtle about it either.

Suddenly a little blonde agent fainted in shock a few tables away from them.

Implied message sent and received. Time to plant some convincing seeds.

Natasha's eye twitched – just for the benefit of their audience.

"ALRIGHT I'VE HAD ENOUGH! Listen up people!" Natasha shouted as she got up and stood on the bench.

Steve covered his face with his hands – he couldn't watch.

"Why are you all acting like little gossiping children? GROW UP! No one here is even under 30!" Natasha said as stared down all judging eyes.

The entire room instantly went silent.

"Um…I'm under 30…" a little scrawny engineer raised his hand tentatively. Natasha narrowed her eyes at the young genius.

"Shut up Jimmy! You're an exception," Natasha said darkly. Poor Jimmy was left shaking in his boots.

"We are all adults people! We are _not_ in high school anymore! If I want to have a relationship with my teammate I will have a god damn relationship with him – and you know what else? IT'S NONE OF YOUR GOD DAMN BUSINESS!" Natasha said staring every single self-righteous junior agent into the ground.

"So take your conspiracy theories and shove it in Fury's face. I don't _care_! Go get a life people!" Natasha said sending a well-aimed dirty look that nearly had half the junior agents trembling in fear. She was indeed a force to be reckoned with.

"Let's go Steve," Natasha said as she turned around and jumped off the bench. She grabbed the bewildered Captain by the hand and promptly dragged him out the door and down the hall.

Conversations instantly erupted once they left the room.

"He's so hot!" an agent said dreamily. Her partner stared at her like she was crazy.

"Stacy…isn't he the guy you said you wouldn't date in a million years because he would bore you to tears…?" he asked slowly. The girl smacked her partner upside the head.

"Shut up Will! If he can get Romanoff the ice queen to like him he must be _amazing_!" she said confidently. Will gave her a weird look.

"I don't understand how girls have such shallow opinions about what they like in a guy…" he muttered. Stacy glared at him.

"…Olivia Walters' new breast implants last week had you and all the other men in the security department drooling," she said blankly. Will paled.

"They were _beautiful_!" he said defensively.

"They were fake!" she exclaimed.

"How do you know he's not fake?" he shouted.

"I just know it!" she said leaving no room for argument.

Meanwhile as the junior agents went crazy with this new information Steve and Natasha were walking away from the madness as swiftly as possible.

"I still don't understand why you did that Natasha. I thought you liked…" Steve started to say. She shook her head.

"…but he hasn't done anything Steve," Natasha said quietly.

"What are you talking about? Are you blind? Did you see him explode and nearly kill me yesterday?" Steve said incredulously.

"He's avoiding me now," she said with a sigh.

"Of _course_ he's going to avoid you! The girl he likes just did…well whatever he thinks we did…" he said waving his arms around as if that would help his butchered sentence.

"How do you even know he likes me anymore?" she said warily. Steve stopped walking and gripped her by the shoulders.

"Natasha – no one would react like that if they didn't like you," he said firmly looking her in the eyes.

"You sure?" she whispered.

"Very sure," he said confidently.

"You sure you're not gay?" she whispered just as seriously. Steve went bright red – she loved doing that.

"NATASHA!" he exclaimed heatedly. She laughed.

"You always cheer me up Steve," she said with a chuckle. He rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"What are friends for?" he said bumping their heads together.

**However in a little pub down the street from the Avengers Tower…Steve was not **_**exactly**_** correct. **

2 hours after the cafeteria scene went viral on the internet.

"I HATE HER! I HATE HER! I HATE HER! I HATE HER! I HATE HER!" Clint shouted banging his head against the counter in front of him. Tony awkwardly patted the poor archer on the back.

"You're going to kill a lot of brain cells if you continue down this path Barton," Tony said wearily. Clint looked up at the genius and glared at him.

"Shut up Stark! I need another drink," Clint muttered as he slammed his forehead back against the table. The bartender and Tony shared a look. Tony made the universal _don't-listen-to-the-drunken-idiot_ sign. Therefore when Clint looked up he was faced with a tall cold glass of…apple juice.

"It's 5 pm Barton. Most people drink their problems away starting from 8," Tony Stark passing the depressed man the fruit juice. Clint scowled at him.

"When did you become my mother?" Clint grumbled as he grudgingly sipped the sugary drink. Tony snorted.

"When you started acting like a 5 year old," he said simply. Clint grumbled some more.

"Do you really hate her?" Tony asked warily. Clint didn't even skip a beat.

"Yes," he said without a second thought. Tony blinked. Well…

"So why are we here? You should be free from your sorrows if you don't love her anymore!" Tony exclaimed. Clint winced and looked away. Tony paused.

"Wait? So you sat here for the last half hour cursing a woman you apparently hate and love at the same god damn time?" Tony asked incredulously. Clint grimaced.

"I refuse to answer that question," Clint said stubbornly. Tony gave him a look of disbelief.

"Clint Barton…you're one messed up bastard," Tony said dryly.

A**/N: AW poor Natasha – Clint's reactions are so confusing. But isn't Steve an adorable fake boyfriend?  
**

**Round 3 **

**Clint is avoiding her like the plague – Natasha 0 : Evil 1 (ouch!) **

**Steve is apparently a sexy man in the books of SHIELD women at the moment - Steve 1 : Evil 0**

**Total: Tie in first and second place **

**1st - Steve -2 **

**2nd - Evil – 2**

**3rd - Natasha -1 (aww!)  
**

**Leave me a review if you'd like to see where this story is going! WHAT IS NATASHA PLANNING? **


	4. Chapter 4

**Rumor has it **

**A/N: Super sorry to leave you guys hanging! Had a bunch other Clintasha stories to update! Check out Lost in the seas of forgotten memoires if you have the chance! **

**Chapter 4 – **

Steve yawned as he walked into his kitchen the morning after Natasha basically declared him her boyfriend – he didn't quite know what to do about that little detail. He's never had proper girlfriend before and frankly…Natasha Romanoff was as far from a normal girl he was ever going to date. Fake or not.

Steve froze as his socks instantly got soaked as he stepped in front of his cabinet. He paused and glanced at the closed door. He slowly opened it and stared at the gushing water heater in the back in horror. There were two clear bullet holes on either sides of the damn machine.

"NATASHA!" he shouted angrily before he was promptly got buried underneath the mountain of dried food supplies he had stacked too high in his cabinet. A second later he poked his head out of the pile of cans and half broken bags of cookies. He narrowed his eyes. Oh he didn't give a rat's ass about wooing his '_girlfriend'_. Let alone a fake one who was currently pining after his own damn teammate.

He was on a mission to hunt down this evil woman who ruined his kitchen.

Meanwhile in a dead silent conference room in the SHIELD base two master assassins were having an intense stare down.

"What the _hell_ are you doing Natasha?" Clint asked narrowing his eyes at his partner. She clenched her jaw.

"You have to be more specific then that Clint," she said staring back at him with equal grit.

"Don't make me spell it out for you Natasha – I know you're not stupid," his said warningly. She glared at him.

"Whatever I do in my free time is none of your business remember? We're just partners remember? Nothing more remember?" she growled as she started breathing faster. Clint clenched his fists at his sides.

"Why are you throwing my words back at my Natasha? Do you know who said them first?" he said steadily. She tensed.

"We've been partners for 7 years Clint. I haven't said anything like that in a long time," she said angrily.

"But you never said anything different either Natasha," he said quietly. She froze.

"I-I was never good with words Clint," she said heatedly. He suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"I always thought I could read your actions instead Natasha. But right now I don't know what the _hell_ they're telling me either. Why are you dating Steve?" he asked getting straight to the point. Natasha tensed.

"Why do you care?" she growled looking away. He stared at her in disbelief.

"What do you _mean_ why do I care? I'm your freaking partner! Don't I have the right to know when you suddenly decide to start a relationship with a man who is the leader of our fucking team?" he asked in outrage.

"_No_," she growled.

"Why the hell not?" he shouted angrily.

"Because you never asked!" she shouted back.

"What the hell do you _see_ in him Tasha?" he asked in disbelief. He didn't understand. He really didn't. He never thought Natasha would like someone like Steve Rogers. They didn't even get along all that well – they were always arguing!

"A hell of a lot more then I see _you_! You don't even want to go on missions anymore. What the hell does that tell me? What the hell do you want me to think? You're a fucking _bastard_ Clint. Do you even want to be partners with me anymore?" she shouted furiously. Clint tensed and completely stopped moving.

Natasha knew she might have gone too far when she saw something in Clint's eyes darken.

He suddenly crossed the 2 feet between them, shoved her against the wall and used his weight to pin her in place.

"You really want to know why I've been avoiding you? Why I've been going crazy over the last couple of days because of your stupidity? Why I punched my own teammate in the face?" he growled at her centimeters from her face.

She narrowed her eyes and tugged at her trapped wrists.

"Let me go before I break your hand," she hissed. He laughed darkly. Natasha glared at him with a fierce look in her eyes.

"If I ever get a hold of you Natasha – I'll never let you go," he whispered with dangerous promise. _Hot damn _Natasha felt an involuntary shiver go up her spine. Clint noticed immediately and stared at her dead in the eye.

"Are you scared now?" he asked slowly.

"No," she said through gritted teeth. He leaned into her and placed his lips beside her ear.

"Then why is your heart beating like you just ran a marathon?" he whispered in her ear. Natasha froze.

The door suddenly banged open to reveal a righteously pissed Captain. Natasha and Clint instantly flew apart like they were burned. They were still high ranking professional agents at SHIELD. no one needed anymore stupid rumors.

"_You_!" Steve growled giving Natasha the evil eye. Natasha gave the cap a confused look even as her heart was beating a hundred miles an hour at the moment. _Holy shit_ Clint was going to be the death of her.

"What's wrong Steve…?" she asked slowly. He narrowed his eyes and stalked right up to her.

"What's wrong? What's _wrong_? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE?" he shouted. Natasha blinked.

"Ah…no?" she said slowly. She couldn't think straight at the moment. She could still feel the buzz from Clint's body being tightly pressed up against her. Oh _shit_ what the heck just happened? Steve narrowed her eyes.

"That's it. I'll _show_ you what you've done. You're coming with me," Steve said grabbing her by the hand and dragging her towards the door.

"Hey! Who do you think you ar-?" Clint started to say angrily. Steve held up his hand for silence as he walked past the angry archer.

"No time for dramatics right now Clint. You can jealously punch me later or something equally painful for yourself. Me and this Russian assassin have a date with a hammer right now. Good bye," Steve said with a prompt nod towards the frozen archer and dragged his fake girlfriend out the door.

"Of all the men in the world to date…you choose the _possessive_ type?" Clint shouted after her. Natasha was still so confused she didn't even know how to response. The only think she could comprehend at the moment was that maybe Clint did notice her after all.

_20 minutes later. _

Steve and Natasha stood in the growing puddle in his kitchen.

"I don't know how to fix a water heater! Call a damn plumber!" Natasha said furiously. _This_ is why he dragged her away from confronting her partner? Granted she didn't know what the hell she was going to do after _that_ incident – but still. Angry she would be now. Rant at her best friend about it she would later.

"And explain _what_? That my crazy fake assassin girlfriend whipped her gun at my wall and caused it to fire a shot that went straight through the stupid water heater?" Steve said heatedly. Natasha paused – well that was true.

"But I'm a SHIELD agent Steve! I don't know how to fix stuff like this!" Natasha said in defeat. Steve stared at her for a long moment.

"Then you will learn something new today Natasha Romanoff," he said while he promptly took the gun from her hands and handed her a screw driver instead. She stared at the tool in shock. She glanced up at his serious eyes – he meant business.

Steve narrowed his eyes the second she glanced at the exit in panic.

"I will handcuff you to my fridge if you dare leave me to deal with this mess on my own!" Steve growled.

_5 seconds later. _

They both started rapidly turning bright red. Why did he have to say it like that?

"Steve!" Natasha exclaimed in disbelief.

"I didn't mean it like that!" he shouted with a full blown blush on his face.

"_Think_ before you say something!" she shouted back matching the exact colour of his face.

"Why is your mind always in the gutter!" he shouted.

"I didn't _say_ anything!" she cried.

"You're implying sick things Natasha!" he said in horror.

"Just shut up and show me the damn hole!" she shouted clenched the stupid screw driver in her hands. Steve paled instantly.

He literally looked like he was about to faint. Natasha's mouth hit the floor.

"NOT THAT HOLE!" she screamed in disgust. He leaned against the wall – he couldn't survive with a best friend like Natasha Romanoff.

"Why Natasha…why do you do this to me?" he said desperately. Natasha banged her head against the wall.

"Steve…I will kill you if you don't _stop_ talking and just let us fix the stupid water heater," she growled inches from his face.

"Why are you so close to me?" he whimpered.

Natasha slammed her hand against her face. HE WAS IMPOSSIBLE!

10 minutes later when Steve finally got a hold of himself and nearly got a slap in the face from a fuming Russian they were finally fixing the damn machine.

"Natasha pass me the wrench from my tool box," Steve asked politely as he stared at the leak in his water heater. The bullet went right through one side and out the other. He would have to plug both ends.

"Why do I have to help you fix this at 11 pm?" Natasha muttered as she reluctantly handed him the wench.

"Because woman you _made_ the stupid hole in my water heater," Steve muttered back as he tinkered with the lever. Natasha grumbled something unintelligible to normal ears under her breath. Too bad her fake boyfriend had superhuman hearing. Steve paused in his tinkering.

"I _dare_ you to say that again Natasha. I have incriminating pictures of a 6 year Russian ballerina I happened to come across in SHIELD files and I'm not afraid to show it to Stark," Steve said giving her a pointed look. Natasha paled.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THOSE?" she shrieked. He shrugged at her accusing look.

"The rumors have made me a lot more...Ah..agreeable? …to SHIELD woman. Apparently women in our field like taken men or something? Actually I never understood that…but anyway. I got access to our SHIELD records to finally get Stark back for all the pain he has put me through…and then I saw your file," he said rolling the wrench in his hand back and forth. Natasha paused as she let that statement sink in.

"YOU WENT LOOKING FOR BLACKMAIL ON YOUR OWN GIRLFRIEND?" she shouted in disbelief.

"Natasha…my '_girlfriend_' just called me a military dog that never got loved as a puppy," he said blankly. She paused.

"Give me the damn wrench – I want to go home before midnight," she growled taking the wrench from his hand and fixing the damn water heater herself. _Ugh_! Boyfriends were such a pain in the ass.

_3 days later at 3 am. _

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !" Steve shouted as the water starting gushing out of his water heater _again_!

One phone call later.

A fuming Russian spy stomped through his front door and nearly shot him right then and there.

"JUST TAPE THE DAMN THING SHUT STEVE!" she growled at him. Has it really come to this? He opened his drawer and pulled out a black roll of tape.

"Duct tape?" Steve asked warily. Natasha sighed and nodded gravely.

"Duct tape," she agreed.

**A/N: I do a lot of build projects for physics class. Duct tape and glue guns are damn useful shit! **

ROUND 4: 

Clint cracked and finally stopped running – Natasha 1 : Evil 0

Steve interrupted hot Clintasha moment – Natasha 0: Evil 1

Steve got his apartment flooded by Natasha's bullet - Steve 0 : Evil 1

Total: Tie in seconds and third place

1st - Evil – 4 _(damn)_

2nd - Natasha -2

3rd - Steve -2

**AND OH MY GOD HOT DANGEROUS CLINT VS. ADORABLE ANGRY STEVE? **

**WHAT IS A GIRL TO DO? **

**Haha review if you want to find out what Natasha will do next. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Rumor has it **

**A/N: So we had a lot of humor so far….so why not some drama mixed in with the humor? **

**Chapter 5 **

Natasha stared at the telephone book in front of her.

Steve stared at his crazy Russian girlfriend.

"How about Bouley?" she said pointing to the name in front of her. Steve gave her a weird look.

"Natasha…it sounds boot leg," he said scrunching up his nose in distaste. She sighed and glanced down at the list again.

"How about Le Bernardin?" Natasha tried again. She furrowed her brow as Steve turned slightly green.

"I don't like sardines," he grumbled childishly. Natasha stared at him in disbelief.

"You don't have to eat their sardine!" she said incredulously. Steve gave her the look. The _'move on before I walk away from you crazy Russian look'_. Natasha huffed.

"There's Masa – it's not even a big restaurant," she said getting tired of him shooting down all their options.

"What are we going to do - dine with astronauts?" he said skeptically. Natasha nearly strangled him right then and there.

"It's not _NASA_ Steve!" Natasha cried. He shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. He was a soldier - not a damn aristocrat.

"Before we go to any one of these weird rich people places…where we will eat food that looks more like art then eatable sustenance for the sake of enraging a highly volatile archer - can we stop at Macdonal-" Steve started to asked but Natasha's furious voice instantly cut him off.

"NO YOU CAN'T HAVE A HAPPY MEAL BEFORE OUR DINNER!" she shouted clenching her fists at her sides. Steve sighed heavily. _Damn Russian dictator._

"But I'll be _hungry_ Natasha," he mumbled unhappily.

"Buy something eatable while we are at dinner then," she said angrily. Steve scoffed – finding something eatable on those weird menus was like finding a sane brain cell in Stark's big fat mad genius brain. Natasha narrowed her eyes at her scowling boyfriend and promptly grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and brought him right up to her face.

"You will _not_ walk into a restaurant with the Black Widow on your arm smelling like french fries -_understood_?" she growled darkly. Steve paled as he came face to face the fire in her eyes. Oh dear god she was going to practically roast him.

"Yes ma'am!" Steve squeaked. Natasha continued to glare at him just to make sure he got the idea.

"Can you let me go now Nat?" Steve said awkwardly hanging from her fist. Natasha promptly dropped the ruffled soldier to his feet and pulled the stupid phonebook towards her again.

"Kultura seems like an okay place try?" she said showing him the details. Steve winced.

"You say Kaltura and I hear can I have turkey with that," he said dryly. Natasha groaned – this man was impossible!

"Boy, you are _picky_," she muttered as she flipped through the pages.

"Why do we have to go to a fancy restaurant for our date? It's not even a real date!" he grumbled leaning against the wall beside her. Natasha promptly picked up the towel sitting beside her and whacked him in the back of the head with it.

"HEY!" Steve said rubbing his head from the abuse.

"Shut up and pick a damn restaurant," she growled shoving the book towards him. He glanced down at the list of names he could barely pronounce.

"Why don't we just go watch a movie?" he said shaking his head. It was so much simpler. He didn't even have to act all boyfriendish in the dark.

"But that's not what you normally _do_ on a first date!" she groaned banging her head against the table. Steve raised an eyebrow at her dramatics.

"Natasha…you've never been on a date," Steve said slowly. Natasha gave him a wary look.

"No – that's not quite true," she said cautiously. Steve gave her a bored look.

"Missions don't count," he said dryly. Natasha faltered.

"It wasn't a _SHIELD_ missi-" she started to protest but he would have none of it.

"Pre-SHIELD assignments don't count either. _Work_ in general does not count," Steve said crossing his arms. Natasha threw her hands up in the air in frustration.

"Fine! You are such a damn _pain_ in my ass Steve!" she growled. Cue the red ears. Natasha froze as she noticed the involuntary blush rise up the Cap's neck. She stared at his weird reaction in confusion until the gutter mind part of her clicked into motion. The horror on her face was priceless.

"YOU ARE SUCH A SICK BASTARD STEVE!" she shouted in disgust.

"I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!" he shouted back defensively.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO - YOU'RE FUCKING EARS ARE SAYING IT!" she shrieked. Steve quickly covered his burning ears.

"THEY'RE NOT SAYING ANYTHING!" he denied frantically. Natasha gave him the dirtiest look ever.

"YOU'RE A FREAKING VIRGIN HOW THE _HELL_ DO YOU KNOW STUFF LIKE THIS?" she asked in disbelief.

"LALALALALALALALALA – I don't know what you're talking about – LALALALALALALALA!" Steve chanted as he shut his eyes and refused to look at the enraged Russian.

"UGH! THAT IS IT! WE ARE GOING TO GO TO –" she promptly glanced down and pointed at a random name " – TO THE RESTURANT CALLED SUGIYAMA AND THAT IS FINAL!" she shouted red in the face. Steve went ghostly white.

_Oh no. _Not the raw fish, anything but the raw fish!

"Natasha don't do this to me!" Steve begged falling to his knees. She whipped out her gun and promptly pointed it at his head.

"_Get up_ and stop whimpering," she growled menacingly. Steve hung his head in defeat. He was doomed. Were all girlfriends this violent and control freaks?

"I'll be back soon and you better be ready to go when I come back down here – _understood_?" she said threateningly. Steve nodded his head lifelessly – he was already doomed anyway. She angrily spun around and stomped up the stairs towards her room. She paused as she neared the top step.

"Steve…?" Natasha asked blankly turning around at the top of the stairs. Steve glanced up from his pace on the floor and gave his suddenly very calm girlfriend a weird look. It was scaring him.

"What Natasha…?" he asked cautiously. Natasha gave him a very serious look.

"Are you sure you're not gay?" she deadpanned.

Steve turned into a tomato at record speeds.

"NATASHAAAAAAA!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Natasha smirked.

"That's what you get for turning down every single god damn restaurant in town ya picky bastard," she said as she continued stomping down the hall. Steve stared after the crazy Russian until she disappeared around the corner. Then he promptly fled to the kitchen.

"Hey! Hey JARVIS – help a soldier out?" he whispered to the kitchen ceiling.

"Shall I order the happy meal without pickles Sir?" JARVIS said automatically. Steve faltered – wow if JARVIS was already anticipating his question he had done this one too many times.

"Um…yeah just the usual will do," he said in relief.

"Very good Sir – it'll be here in 25 minutes. I estimate it will take Miss Romanoff 20 minutes to calm down while shooting up her training room and then 10 minutes to get ready," JARVIS said in his monotone voice.

"Awesome – I can eat a hamburger in 5 minutes," Steve said confidently. There was definitely something wrong with the Captain. First of all he knew how fast he could make the evidence disappear, second of all he didn't even realize that 10 minutes is a freakishly short amount of time for any girl to get ready for a date.

Natasha was setting him up to be such a horribly ill-informed boyfriend for future women.

Just like JARVIS said 20 minutes later a huffing Natasha Romanoff was stalking out of the shoot range and heading towards her room. She was going to blow that damn Captain's sock off with what she was going to wear – but more importantly she was hoping to catch the eye of a certain archer.

She stomped into her room and threw open her closet door.

Oh shit it was full of mission dresses. She wasn't wearing something she wore for _work_ to a date.

"Ugh! Why is this girly stuff so freaking hard!" she growled to herself.

"What are you doing Tasha?" someone asked from behind her. Natasha froze as she stared at her closet.

"Nothing – I'm not doing anything," she said quickly turning around and shutting her closet door behind her. Clint raised an eyebrow as he leaned against her doorframe.

"Really? Is that why you're standing in front of your closet screaming in frustration?" he asked warily. Natasha scowled at him.

"What are you really doing?" he asked tilting his head to the side. She sighed and stared at the floor. She mumbled something he could barely pick up.

"Can't hear you Tasha," he said leaning forward. She took a deep breath.

"I'm looking for a dress…" she stared to say slowly but trailed off. He raised an eyebrow.

"For what?" he asked curiously. The dread filling his heart was telling him he already knew the answer. He just didn't want her to confirm it.

"…For a date," she said with a wince. Clint internally winced with her but then he did something so stupid he even wanted to slap _himself_.

"Really? Do you want any help?" he asked before he could stop himself. Natasha stared at him in shock.

_What the heck did he just say? _

"What?" was the first thing that came out of her mouth. He shrugged as he walked up beside her.

"You want help with finding a nice dress?" he repeated his originally question. _What the hell are you doing Clint?_ A voice asked in disbelief in his head. He didn't know what he was doing – he was just running with his gut at the moment.

"Um…sure?" she asked in confusion. He nodded as he pushed open her closet door and glanced around.

"They're all from old missions," she said quietly.

"Really? All of them?" he asked in disbelief. She shrugged half-heartedly. She didn't really know. He noticed a dark red colour that caught his eye at the very back of the closet. He pulled it out and stared down at the dress - he remembered her wearing it on their very first mission together. A weird shadow crossed his face as he stared at the dress.

_Well…if Natasha was going to play mind games with him he was going to play some with her._

"You should wear this one," he said handing her the familiar dress. She froze as she realized which mission it was from. _Holy shit._

"Are you sure…?" she asked furrowing her brow. He nodded.

"I'm sure," he said firmly.

"Okay..." Natasha said slowly as she walked into her washroom still staring at the dress.

He just picked out her dress for her.

For the date that she was going to go on with her fake boyfriend.

The date that was supposed to make this exact man jealous.

Holy shit there was something seriously, seriously wrong in this picture.

Natasha shut the door behind her and stared at the dress in her hands.

Clint stared at the closed door on the other side with the exact same conflicted expression on his face.

"_Masochist_," someone said as they passed Natasha's room behind Clint. Clint's eye twitched.

"Shut up Bruce," Clint said steadily without turning around.

"I speak no lies – I only say truths," Bruce said with a shrug. Clint picked up a pillow off Natasha's bed and whipped it at the doctor in front of her door.

"Get out!" he shouted heatedly. Bruce laughed as he shook his head and walked down the hall. They were pathetic.

"Clint who are you talking to?" Natasha asked warily from behind him. The anger promptly wiped off his face as he turned around to respond to her question and froze. The breath nearly got knocked right out of his lungs. The red dress he picked out was even more beautiful on her then he remembered it was – he didn't even think that was _possible_.

He wished so bad that he was the one taking her to dinner.

Natasha gave his silence a cautious look.

"Um Clint?" she said waving her hand in front of his face. He shook himself out of his momentary daze.

"What?" he asked coming back to the present.

"What do you think?" she asked slowly. He coughed into his hand to get a hold of himself.

"I think you look beautiful Natasha," he said softly. Natasha shifted awkwardly under his intense gaze.

"Which kind?" she asked slowly. He took a deep breath as he stared back at her cautious green eyes. He saw an odd nervousness flickering in them. She didn't believe him.

"The one where you think you're an idiot for not seeing it before kind," he whispered.

Around the same time Bruce walked into the kitchen and stared at the Captain stuffing three mini hamburgers into his mouth at the same time – he was practically inhaling them.

"Steve…why are you molesting those hamburgers?" Bruce asked slowly. Steve froze in his marathon hamburger eating frenzy.

"Date. Natasha. Real food. Pain. Suffering," he choked through his hamburgers. Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"You know she is going to catch the hamburger smell on you right?" he said warily. Steve raised a steady finger as he took a big gulp of his coke.

"I have that covered!" he said as he dashed out of the kitchen. Bruce slowly followed after the sprinting Captain.

"TONY I'M STEALING YOUR COLOGNE!" Steve shouted towards the open door down the hall the led to one of Tony's many workshops.

"WHAT WAS THAT STEVE?" Tony shouted over the drilling he was doing in his lab. Steve shrugged – he told him. He gave a suspicious looking Bruce Banner a big smiled as he inched back into the kitchen and made a mad dash to Tony's room. He walked over to his dresser and picked up one of the interesting looking bottles.

"Wow this stuff looks expensive…" Steve said in awe as he stared at the pretty bottle in his hand. He turned it around to read the label.

"Clive Christian No. 1….huh I wonder how much that costs?" Steve said shaking some of the clear smelly liquid onto his hands.

"Probably around 2,500 dollars," Bruce said warily from behind him. Steve froze as he stared at the wet cologne sitting innocently in his hand. He instantly paled.

"OH MY _GOD_!" Steve shouted nearly dropping the bottle altogether. Bruce shook his head and promptly took the overpriced bottle out of the horrified Captain's hands before he broke it and would have to give up several paychecks to pay it back.

"Most expensive cologne in the world meets Tony Stark – why are you so shocked?" Bruce asked warily.

"_Children_…the stuff on my hands could feed hundreds of _children_!" he said in shock. Bruce sighed and patted the traumatized soldier on the back.

"Natasha is probably waiting for you Steve – you better go before she eats you live," Bruce said shoving the paralyzed Captain towards the elevator.

They rounded the corner and came face to face with a pair of spies locked in an intense staring contest. Bruce sighed. Oh dear god this was just one big explosion waiting to happen.

"Um Natasha? Are you ready to go?" Steve asked nervously from behind her. She slowly tore her eyes away from her partner's and glanced at her real date for the evening. Things were really messed up. The man that _should_ be taking her to dinner helped her pick out her dress for the date she was going on with her friend she had no particular romantic feelings towards. Steve took a deep breath as he stared at the pretty dress she was wearing. She was beautiful.

Too bad she was bat shit insane and practically already taken in every sense except the official.

"Yeah, yeah I'm ready. Bye Clint," she said quietly looking away from his intense stare and walking into the elevator as her dress flowed around her.

"Bye Tasha – have a good time," he said nicely even if it was killing him inside. She nodded. Steve sighed as he watched the madness continue between the two denial spies. Sometimes he wondered why he still allowed Natasha to use him in this crazy war of denial.

Clint watched as the elevator close with the two Avengers behind it. No the story wasn't ending here.

"TONY…?" he called over his shoulder.

"What Clint?" Tony said as he walked into the hall while wiping the grease on his hands off on a towel.

"Get ready I'm taking you to dinner," Clint said not looking away from the closed elevator doors. Tony paused.

"…Clint I don't swing that way…" Tony said carefully. Clint went bright red.

"NOT LIKE THAT STARK!" he shouted in disgust. "It's to the same place Natasha and Steve are going," he explained a bit more calmly. Tony raised an eyebrow.

"You know only desperate people go to such lengths to spy on the girl they like and their boyfriend right…?" Tony said slowly. Clint's eye twitched.

"Tony…" he said warningly. Tony raised his hands in surrender.

"Whatever! You better be paying!" he called over his shoulder. Clint stared after in his shock.

"_You're_ the billionaire!" he shouted after him. Tony smirked.

"But _you're_ the one who asked me out!" he shouted as he walked into his room. Clint scowled at the flirty bastard.

"Cheap bastard," Clint muttered under his breath.

Meanwhile Steve and Natasha were walking down the calmer side of New York each lost in their own thoughts.

"You know Natasha…we don't _actually_ have to go on this date…we could just hang out for a couple hours and tell them that we did," Steve said after a few minutes of companionable silence. Natasha nodded but had an odd look on her face.

"Yeah…but…ah…." she trailed off awkwardly. Steve stared at his friend's nervous expression and paused.

"You want to see what a real date is like don't you?" he asked in realization. Natasha flushed.

"What? No! I didn't say that!" she said quickly refuting his insight. Steve gave her a long look.

"I've never been on one either Natsaha….do you really want to find out with me of all people?" he said warily. She stared at her hands.

"I – I wanted-" she could barely understand what she wanted. Steve watched her struggle to understand her own feelings and stepped in to help her out a bit.

"What do you really want him to do Natasha? Why are you doing all of this?" he asked quietly.

"I want him to stop me," she whispered. "But he hasn't yet," she said staring at the ground. Steve sighed.

Girls were _weird_. That was the one truth he learned in his entire time at Natasha's fake boyfriend.

"Come on then – let's do this fake date and see what results you get alright?" he said intertwining their hands together and pulling her across the street. If Clint felt _anything_ for the girl beside him he better show up Steve thought silently. Otherwise he was going to kill the bastard.

**A/N: Oh snap! THE DRAMA! INTENSE DRAMA! **

ROUND 5: 

Clint didn't stop her from leaving on her date with Steve - Natasha 0: Evil 1

Clint is totally going to stalk their date with Stark though - Natasha 1 : Evil 0

Steve is going to get _sick_ from those hamburgers he woofed down - Steve 0: Evil 1

Steve is just an awesome best friend. Hands down. – Steve 1: Evil 0

Total: Evil is winning by a land side! OH NO!

1st - Evil – 6 _(damn)_

2nd - Natasha -3

3rd - Steve -3

**What is going to happen on this crazy fake date? **

**P.S. Vote on my profile poll if you want this to be the story i update during exams!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Rumor has it **

**Chapter 6 **

Steve and Natasha stood in front of the restaurant called Sugiyama with matching wary expressions on their faces.

"Do you see him?" he asked glancing around. She shook her head.

"No, he's not here – at least not yet," she said with a sigh. Steve furrowed his brow – then where the hell was he?

Meanwhile several streets away.

"TONY STARK HURRY THE HELL UP WE'RE GOING TO MISS _EVERYTHING_!" Clint shouted as he dragged his '_date'_ down the dark street suspiciously like the stalkers they were.

"But I haven't even gotten my shoes on yet!" Tony exclaimed as he tried to tie his shoe while simultaneously being dragged across the concrete by a pissed archer.

"Oh for the love of god!" Clint huffed as he stopped dragging the genius and dumped him against a garbage bin and quickly couched down to tie the damn laces himself. Tony gaped at him.

"Hey! I'm not 5! I can tie my own shoes!" Tony cried. Clint roughly grabbed him by his shirt and glared at him.

"Shut up and walk faster Stark. If we're too late I will stick an arrow down your throat," Clint said menacingly.

"Barton you got an arrow up your _ass_," Tony grumbled while he stared at his perfectly tied laces. The archer is even skilled at properly tying laces! _Laces_! He hasn't been able to tie them properly for years!

SMACK!

"Oh my god my head!" Tony shouted holding his bruised skull in pain. Clint dragged the whining bastard to his feet and pulled him down the street.

"Act natural!" he hissed as they approached the restaurant '_Sugiyama'_. They entered it trying to look relatively sane. A waiter looked up as they approached the front desk.

"I'm sorry sirs – but Wednesday night is for couples only," the waiter said hesitantly. Clint and Tony froze in shock. Of all the nights of the week…

"WHAT?" they shouted at the same time. The waiter gave them an apologetic look.

"I apologize for the inconvenience – if you would like you can have dinner at a nice pub-" he started to recommend but Clint instantly cut him off.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Back up – did you say _couples_ only? As in _any_ type of couples?" Clint asked slowly. Tony paled.

"Oh my _god_…" Tony muttered under his breath. He started inching away but felt a gun dig into his back and immediately froze in place. Damn assassin. Damn him to hell.

"Ah yes…?" the waiter said nervously. Clint dragged Tony to his side even as the man looked like he was about to bolt out the door.

"Then me and my boyfriend would like a table please," Clint said with a determined face. Tony looked like he was about to cry. The waiter gave the odd couple a bizarre look - but a couple was a couple no matter how weird.

"Follow me then sirs," he said as he led them down the hall. Clint dragged a struggling Tony Stark behind him.

"Clint I will _kill_ you when this is all over," Tony hissed as they followed their waiter. Clint completely ignored his 'boyfriend' and glanced around for the redhead he was looking for. He zoned in on the table at the very back of the room. Bingo.

"I will help you prank Hill and Fury the next time we are at SHIELD," Clint bribed immediately. Tony paused as he considered that offer – it was too good to pass up.

"Deal," he said reluctantly. Clint nodded.

"Good – now sit down and look like you're head over heels for me," he said shoving the genius into the corner booth. Tony sighed. The things he did for this team.

On the other side of the room Natasha and Steve were looking at their menus and staring at all the Japanese named dishes. It was horrifying Steve to the core.

"You know I can't read any of this right Natasha...?" Steve said slowly. Natasha snorted.

"Just pick something that looks safe Steve," she grumbled across from him. Steve glanced around the menu and chose the smallest word he could find – maybe that would give him the smallest potion of fish he would have to suffer through.

5 minutes after the food had arrived Steve was still staring at his meal.

"What's wrong Steve?" Natasha asked warily.

"It's a _squid_," Steve said blankly. Natasha raised an eyebrow as his peculiar behavior.

"I know it's a squid Steve – what's your point?" Natasha asked with a sigh.

"There is a squid on my plate," he said in horror still staring at the squishy substance.

"You ordered a squid Steve…." she said slowly.

"No I ordered something called 'Ika'," he said pointing at his menu. Natasha banged her head against the wall beside her.

"Ika is squid in Japanese Steve," she said painfully. Steve went bright red.

"I don't _know_ Japanese!" he said defensively.

"Why didn't you ask?" she asked in disbelief. She froze as she noticed the familiar hair of Tony Stark and Clint Barton poking over a large menu at a table in the corner of her eye. Oh my _god_ when did they get here?

"Holy crap Clint is here – look damn happy!" she hissed. Steve was still staring at his squid. IT WAS JIGGING!

"But I'm _not_ happy! Squid is not a happy occasion!" he hissed back. Natasha narrowed her eyes and dragged him across the table by the scruff of his collar.

"Look happy or I will break your face so that you will permanently smile for the rest of your life," she said dangerously. Steve awkwardly showed some teeth .

She dropped him and they instantly moved back to their originally seats.

"Can we make a big scene and break up so that I don't have to eat this squid?" he asked after another few moments of staring at the squid.

"No," Natasha said firmly.

"Dictator," he grumbled.

"Eat the squid," she ordered.

"I don't _want_ to!" he whispered defiantly. Other customers glanced over at the hissing couple.

"People are looking – eat the damn squid!" Natasha growled. Steve looked he was about to puke as Natasha held a spoon full of wobbly purple seafood in front of his mouth. Oh dear god he wasn't going to survive this date. Death by squid. The horror.

"She's _feeding_ him! What the heck?" Clint whispered in disbelief from behind the menu they were hiding behind.

"I can see that," Tony said dryly.

"Doesn't Steve hate all things that are slimy and can swim?" Clint asked in confusion. _Nothing_ made sense anymore.

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah – with a burning passion," Tony said shaking his head at the pair of pathetic men. They were both acting loopy and for what? A girl? Tony snorted. Ha! Red was hardly what he would consider a girl.

She was a vicious Russian _beast! _

"Can I get you two sirs anything?" a different waiter suddenly asked walking up to them.

"Whatever he is having is fine with me," Clint said still very distracted by the two avengers on their date.

"Your boyfriend is very energetic Sir," the waiter said to Tony with a knowing look.

Tony went bright red.

"Ahhh…yeah he gets excited when…we go out?" he said with a wince. Oh dear _god_ what did Clint drag him into this time?

"Where did you two meet?" the waiter asked curiously. Tony groaned – why? Why him?

"Oh …on a mission?" Tony said painfully. Oh what a way to meet.

"Soldiers in love – good for you," the waiter said patting him on the back. Tony looked like he was going to puke.

Meanwhile on the other side of the room Steve Rogers had the same exact expression on his face too. He had just eaten…a squid. Oh my god. He couldn't handle the stress it was placing on his digestive system.

"Natasha – I think I'm going to puke," he croaked as he rapidly turned green. Natasha sighed and pointed to the washroom down the hall.

"Go knock yourself out Steve," she said in defeat. Steve bolted out of his chair and fled to the men's room. Note to self – never feed the Captain fish ever again.

Back at the stalker table Tony had finally had enough of the staring from the other occupants. He promptly ducked under the table and started crawling to the exit. Clint could continue to stalk his partner on his own – not even a prank was worth this embarrassment.

"Tony did you see Steve just run to the-" Clint said as he turned to his partner in crime and froze.

He blinked.

He blinked again.

He was talking to thin air.

"TONY STARK WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO?" he shouted.

"My date _ditched_ me?" Clint said in disbelief staring at the empty table. He promptly got up and started searching for the damn genius. How _darn_ he leave him!

"How could my date ditch me?" Natasha groaned as she banged her head against the table in front of her. She was doomed to never have a proper date for the rest of her life. Natasha froze as she caught sight of a suspicious flicker in the corner of her eye. She tilted her head to the side as she stared at a scuffle happening in the kitchen through the thin crack of the door.

A little girl was being gagged.

She glanced around the restaurant to see where her teammates were.

Tony, Clint and Steve were all MIA. _Great_ she was on her own.

"Fantastic time for you all to disappear into thin air," Natasha muttered as she got out of her chair and slowly made her way to the back of the restaurant. She slowly inched towards the corner of the hall that led to the back exit and away from all the prying eyes of the restaurant occupants. She had a kidnapping to stop.

**A/N: Can't have the Avengers in a restaurant without something going wrong right? hehe. **

**Round 6 **

Clint was desperate enough to fake date Tony to get into the restaurant – Natasha 1: Evil 0

Steve plus squid equal big no no. he just don't like it. – Steve 0 : evil 1

The date was doomed from the start- Natasha 0: Evil 1

Total: Evil is winning AGAIN!

1st - Evil – 8 _(damn)_

2nd - Natasha -4

3rd - Steve -3

**Where are all the Avengers when a little girl needs them? **


	7. Chapter 7

**Rumor has it **

**Chapter 7 **

"Knock her out – we need to get out of here quick," a masked dark haired man said to his accomplices as they held a struggling young blond girl in their grasp. Her eyes were beyond frightened. They quickly bounded her hands together.

"How much do you think she's worth?" one of the buffer men asked.

"Blondes? They usually take them for 1000 a piece," the man that seemed to be in charge of this kidnapping said gruffly. They all froze as they heard the distinct _click_ of a gun behind them.

"You know – gagging a pretty little girl in the back of an elegant restaurant is downright pathetic," someone said from behind them.

The thugs all spun around and stared at the angry eyes of a redheaded Russian with a loaded gun firmly gripped in her right hand. They raised an eyebrow.

"Oh and who is going to stop us? A little redhead like you?" they laughed shaking their heads. Natasha narrowed her eyes. She promptly shot a warning shot over their head and quickly ducked as one of the closer ones tried to grab her. She whipped around and kicked him into the wall. She fell to her knees as they all rushed at her and smashed her elbow into one of their faces and tripped the other 3 men in front of her.

Natasha quickly shot forward as the men groaned falling to their knees behind her. She pulled the gag out of the girl's mouth and took a knife out of her boot and quickly cut through her binds.

"Quick – run!" she shouted dragging the girl out the back door. A few slaps in the face weren't going to keep those men down for long – but Natasha wasn't allowed to shoot civilians outside of missions either – SHIELD would be on her ass if she did that.

Meanwhile two Avengers promptly smacked into each other as they rounded the corner between the washroom and the restaurant. Steve groaned as he held his head in pain and stared down at the equally in pain genius.

"Tony why are you here…and where is Natasha?" Steve asked slowly glancing at the empty table behind Tony. Tony suddenly looked very sheepish.

"Don't quite know why to the first and I don't know at all to the second," Tony replied warily.

"Clint has been stalking us hasn't he?" Steve said tiredly.

"Yup," Tony said with a shrug. Not going to deny the truth.

"Where the hell did they go?" Steve asked glancing around anxiously.

They both heard gun shots in the distance and shared a worried look.

Natasha and the blond girl both ducked as they ran down a dark alley and felt bullets wiz over their heads. However the kid was just in too much shock to duck fast enough.

"Duck kid duck!" Natasha shouted as she shoved the girl to the ground as a bullet came too close to ending her life. Natasha gritted her teeth as her shoulder hit the ground at an odd angle but ignored it as she quickly dragged the girl to her feet and kept running.

"Who the hell are these people?" Natasha asked herself as she pulled the girl in front of her. Don't die kid – don't die yet. _I'm not a hero but I'll damn well make sure you don't die._

"They're people my d-daddy sees sometimes really late at night," the girl said shakily glancing over her shoulder in fear.

"Don't look back - just keep running!" Natasha whispered quickly. They heard shouting not too far around the corner. Natasha quickly grabbed the girl by her arm and dragged her behind a dumpster.

"Where did they go?" one of the masked men shouted angrily rounding the corner. Natasha slowly covered the girl's mouth to keep her from making a sound and giving them away.

"The brat is going to slow that bitch down – they couldn't have gotten far," another thug said dangerously. Natasha locked eyes with the little girl shaking in front of her. She couldn't stop them with the girl still here. She quickly pushed the kid down the alley as the men got closer.

"Run!" she whispered holding her bruised shoulder in pain – she had hurt it while hitting the ground a minute ago. The little girl stared back at her with frightened eyes.

"But-" the girl faltered. Natasha quickly fell to her knees in front of the terrified little girl and grasped her firmly by the shoulders. She could hear the stomping of several angry feet behind them.

"Don't think - just run. Find the police, but whatever you do _don't_ stop running until you do okay?" Natasha said firmly pushing the kid down the alley. The little girl shakily backed away while still staring at Natasha with fear swirling in her eyes. Natasha pulled out her second gun as she watched the girl quickly sprint around the corner. Her eyes darkened as she lost sight of the kid. Now she had thugs to shoot.

"Alright you bastards – who wants to die first?" Natasha said dangerously from behind the 4 men. All the thugs tensed as they spun around and finally found the bitch the that took their target.

"You talk big for a girl who is outnumbered by 4 men 4 times her size," one of the thugs said darkly. Natasha snorted.

"_Please_ – I constantly have to deal with a gigantic green rage monster that is 4 times _your_ size. You pansies are a walk in a park compared to the giants I work with," she said narrowing her eyes.

They scoffed and promptly raised their guns to fire at her. She rolled her eyes and she fell to the ground and rolled out of the line of fire. She raised her own gun and fired two clear shots actually hitting her targets in the leg. The two thugs still left standing quickly rushed her from both sides. She quickly stepped back and let them nearly crash into each other before she pulled her arm back and smashed her fist into one of their faces and kneed the other in the gut. She took several deeps breath as they both fell to the ground in pain. Well that was that.

Natasha froze as she felt a cool metal gun make contact with the back of her head.

"You forget there is always back up arrogant girl," a voice whispered from behind her. Natasha took a deep breath.

BANG!

She froze and she heard the shot fire but felt no pain. Instead the man behind her gasped and fell forward beside her.

"Natasha?" someone said from behind her. Natasha spun around and locked eyes with an out of breath Clint Barton who had a smoking gun at his side. Well, where the _hell_ was he 5 minutes ago?

"Clint?" she said in confusion.

BANG!

Clint froze as he watched the expression on Natasha's face freeze.

Natasha hissed in pain as she dropped to her knees clutching her leg in pain. The bastard on the ground still had his gun in his shaking hands and was still conscious.

"Not. Dead. Yet," the bleeding man said through gritted teeth. Clint's eyes darkened as he stepped forward and shoved his gun into the man's chest.

"Now you are," he whispered before he pulled the trigger. Natasha clenched her jaw as she heard the shot echo around the alley and watched the man fall to the ground.

"SHIELD is going to kill you for shooting down civilians outside of missions Barton," she hissed as she leaned against the wall beside her. The darkness cleared from his eyes as he looked away.

"I didn't kill him – it was a taser," he said looking away from the unconscious body. Natasha paused.

"Damn, you just like to scare the _shit_ out of them don't you?" Natasha said warily. Clint shrugged – the man shot his partner. It was a mercy he was still alive at all.

Clint quickly ripped off the end of his shirt and crouched down beside the bleeding Russian. Her red dress was completely ruined.

"Well that was a horrible way to end a date," Natasha mumbled staring at her wound. Clint shook his head in disbelief.

"You're always getting into trouble on or off missions Tasha," he muttered as he tied the cloth quickly around the bullet wound in her thigh. Natasha gritted teeth as she tried not to hiss from the pain. Getting that bullet out was going to hurt like hell. She glanced up at the serious eyes of her partner and was about to response when she noticed a flicker of movement behind him.

Clint froze as he felt her suddenly whip forward, pull his gun out of his back pocket and shoot something over his shoulder. Clint slowly turned around and watched a masked man fall in his knees clutching his stomach in pain. There were just too many thugs crawling around these dark alleys. She slowly leaned back against the wall behind her with the exhaustion clear on her face and dropped the gun. The adrenaline was the only reason she was able to shoot properly at all. The blood loss was making her lightheaded. He slowly felt the back of his neck – there was the slight trail of blood there. Oh shit he was seconds away from being beheaded.

"Be careful Barton – you'll get yourself killed one day," Natasha warned. He took a calming breath and glanced back down at her tense form.

"That's why I have you Tasha," he said quietly. She snorted.

"Now you're glad I'm your partner eh?" she muttered looking away from him. Clint's eyes softened as he stared at his reserved partner. He slowly leaned forward and brushed her messy red bangs out of her eyes. She tensed ever so slightly as his fingers softly brushed her forehead.

"I always felt like the luckiest agent at SHIELD Natasha – because my partner was the best there was," he whispered softly.

She was about to respond but winced instead. He paused as he watched her face go blank. She wasn't wincing from his words - she was in physical pain – he could feel the pain vibrating off of her in waves. Natasha Romanoff was a master at hiding what she was feeling – but he knew what to look for.

"Time to find Bruce or get you to a SHIELD Doctor," he said with a sigh. They could have this conversation later. He promptly hooked one arm under her knees and another under her back. Natasha froze.

"Hey! What are you _doing_?" she protested as he effortlessly picked her off the ground and lightly jostled her so that he had a firm grip around her waist.

"I'm getting you out of here before any more street thugs show up and before that bullet wound gets infected," he said calmly as he spun them around and started walking out of the alley littered with unconscious gang members. Never mess with Hawkeye and the Black Widow. It just never ended well for you.

"I don't need to be fucking carried," she growled trying to pull away. He didn't even let her budge, his grip was like steel.

"Do you want to limp back home while you bleed to death?" he said giving her a blank look. She scowled at him. He raised an eyebrow at her irritation.

"You know I'm right Tasha," he said shaking his head at her unhappy face. Such a stubborn Russian.

"I could still make it back on my own – I've lived through worse," she muttered looking away from his careful gaze.

"I know – but you've dragged me back to safety countless of times during missions Tasha. I'm just repaying a debt," he said quietly repeating the same words she once told him. Natasha groaned in defeat. There was just no way to win against Clint Barton.

"Give me your phone," she grumbled crossing her arms and firmly looking away from him. He stared at her as he listened to her odd request.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Cause I need to call my stupid boyfriend and tell him what happened," she said looking away from his curious face.

Clint suddenly stopped walk and nearly dropped her as he replayed what she just said. Natasha glared at his sudden jerky movements.

"OI! If you're going to insist on carrying me don't kill me in the process!" she shouted grabbing onto his shirt to keep herself from crashing to the ground. _Right...her boyfriend. Which wasn't him._ He shook the dark thoughts out of his mind and glanced down at his irritated looking partner.

"Sorry," he muttered as he took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. Natasha huffed as she took the phone from him. She dialed a sadly _very_ familiar number after seeing it many times over the last few days because of a damn broken water heater. She held the phone to her ear as Clint continued to carry her down the street.

_Ring. Ring. _

_Click. _

"Hi Steve – no I'm not dead. If I was dead I wouldn't be _talking_ to you," Natasha said irritably. Steve just did not think things through before he opened his mouth sometimes. She paused as she listened to his reply.

"No I did _not_ ditch you on our date either. I sort of stepped out to get some air and go tied up…ah…in a gang…fight," she said slowly. There was a long pause at the other end of the line. She heard him take a deep breath and quickly pulled the phone away from her ear.

"A _GANG_ FIGHT? NATASHA ROMANOFF YOU GOT YOURSELF IN THE MIDDLE OF A GANG FIGHT?" was heard loud and clear through the small speaker. Natasha winced from the volume. Clint snorted – she's gotten herself into some much worse situations in the past. He wished he didn't have to bail her broken and bruised body out of those either.

"Stop shouting Steve or I will hang up on you," she warned bringing the phone back to her ear. She listened to the thankfully quieter but still angry response. "No I'm fine – stop acting like you're my mother or something," she said heatedly. Clint raised an eyebrow – Natasha always had a weird way of responding to concern for her well being.

"So what if I never had a mother? I know what mothers do! They are worrywarts! And you Steve Rogers are a damn worrywart _king_," she hissed. She felt her anger reluctantly deflate as she listened to his quiet response. Damn his caring ways. Damn him for making her feel bad for ditching him.

"Yeah…yeah I kicked their ass – you don't have to do it," she said quietly. Overprotective monkey.

Clint quietly continued his trek back to the Tower with the only girl who could drive him crazy in his arms. She was right in front of him - but for some reason he felt like he was a million miles away from her. Because right now he wished he was the person she was talking to at the other end of the phone.

**A/N: No Clint! Why don't you see what Natasha is doing? You don't want to be Steve! She doesn't like Steve! No! haha poor confused archer. **

**Round 7 **

Natasha saved a little girl from being kidnapped – Natasha 1: Evil 0

Clint totally saved her from being shot – Natasha 1 : evil 0

Natasha saved his ass right after - Natasha 1 : Evil 0

Steve offered to beat up the thugs Steve 1: Evil 0

Total: Evil is winning by just a sliver.

1st - Evil – 8 _(darn you evil!)_

2nd - Natasha -7

3rd - Steve -4

**I'm sorry to say this is my last update for this story until the end of exams! But don't worry! I will be back at the end of January! Thank you for reading ****Rumor has it!**

**Review and let me know what you thought and if you would like me to continue when I return!**

**- Shadowsontherun **


	8. Chapter 8

**Rumor has it **

**A/N: HELLO! EXAMS ARE OVER WOOO! I am basically sitting here updating all my stories one at a time. Haha. It has been a long time but of course I didn't forget you guys! **

**RECAP: Steve and Natasha had just gone on a disaster fake date with Clint and Tony tailing them. There was a kidnapping of a little girl in the back of the restaurant which Natasha managed to stop. But in the mist of fighting off the gang members she got corner with a gun to her head. Clint being the ever present stalker managed to shoot the bastard before he could take his shot. Natasha ended up getting shot anyway in the leg because the bastard wasn't dead. Clint knocked him out and proceeded to carry her home while she angrily had a conversation with Steve on his own phone. Poor guy – but Natasha Romanoff hates being the damsel in distress so she was royally pissed at everyone involved. **

**So did you ever wonder the thinking process behind Natasha and her rather crazy plans? Or the reasons why Clint was not responding the way she wanted him too? I did while I was rereading the story and thought why not take a look at her thoughts of the entire situation for once?**

**Enjoy! **

**Chapter 8 **

Natasha knew before she woke up where she was imprisoned in. She could smell the sterilized scent in the air and the bright lights flashing down on her from behind her eyelid. She could hear the annoying beeping noise from a machine beside her and felt someone's even breathing vibrate through the bed and a mess of hair brushing against her side.

She was in SHIELD medical. Damn she _hated_ this place.

She slowly opened her eyes to simply confirm what she had concluded before. She sighed as she glanced to her left and got a face full of brown hair. She blinked and slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. She stared at the uncomfortable looking body of Clint Barton lightly snoring half on the bed and half sitting in his uncomfortable chair. Her eyes involuntarily softened – he must have stayed like that all night. She knew she had passed out from blood loss 20 minutes into their walk. She carefully outstretched her hand and gently ran a few fingers through his soft hair. He continued to sleep undisturbed by her light actions. She sighed as she watched him sleep. She didn't even know what she was doing anymore. Steve and she were definitely taking their little ruse to a whole new level and yet she's only been getting mixed results. She knew he would follow them – he was insanely stubborn man like that. But she didn't know if it was because he was suspicious of her relationship with Steve or because…he actually _cared_.

She glanced down at the unconscious man under her hand and narrowed her eyes. She wanted to pick him up and shake him silly! Why won't he do something? Why won't he just say something? Why did he just smile weakly and let her _go_? She froze.

Why _did _he let her go?

She angrily clenched her jaw – this was all partly her fault too. She had stuck them in a weird limbo between partners and friends for _years_. Maybe she beat out the feelings a young archer had for a mysterious Russian assassin a long time ago. Maybe she had made him wait too long. Maybe it took too long for them to reach a point in their partnership where she was _finally_ able to say she didn't care if she was compromised. She suddenly froze in her motions of combing his short hair. But maybe he was no longer at that stage in his life anymore. Maybe he had already given up on them and simply resigned himself to being friends forever. She felt her heart clench as her breathing started to pick up. She never realized how much it would hurt when you were rejected. She's never been rejected in her entire life. She had never let anyone close enough to try. The tension immediately spiked in her body and she involuntary clenched her fists.

She froze as she heard him groan in pain. She realized she had gripped his hair a bit too harshly and quickly let him go. She was annoyed at herself. That was a dumb move – especially for her. Honestly Clint Barton drove her crazy – he had for years.

"Sorry," she muttered to the slightly pained looking unconscious archer. She never looked at him for too long because she was scared he would make her feel things they weren't allowed to in this job. Back when they were just getting to know each other he had been insistently flirty and cocky and all those things she hated in young overconfident men. As time passed and they continued to be efficient partners that had faded when she continuously rebuked his affections until he finally backed down and they actually became something like friends. She stared down at her sleeping partner and her eyes fell.

They had been friends for _years_. They still technically were just friends.

"I'm sorry," she whispered softly. She has never apologized for any of the cruel things she's done to him over the years. Not a real meaningful apology. She never apologized for ditching his ass on key missions when she couldn't handle the things he was saying. She never apologized for running away or for even beating the shit out of him on countless occasions. She never said she regretted them and he never held it against her either. They had built strict parameters around their relationship over the years and she felt like crying in frustration because she was the one who drew most of the lines. _She_ was the one who always kept him at a distance.

All he was doing was still following those rules. She slammed her eyes shut and growled in anger. She wasn't _good_ with words. She never had to tell him what she really meant. He never had to ask until the Steve disaster came along. Oh Steve. She laughed humorlessly. The poor boy didn't even know what he got himself into. He was the one friend she never expected to find while working for an organization like SHIELD. He was one of a kind gentleman – a real sweetheart. But for some messed up reason she preferred silent, brooding and rugged men. She sighed.

Really if she was ever honest with herself she didn't even like men at all – it was always just _him_.

"I'm sorry it took so long Clint," she said in a strained voice as she watched him sleep unaware of her one-way conversation with him.

"I just…I'm just…I'm just so _screwed_ up you can't even imagine what I'm feeling right now. We've been partners for 10 years and god I am an _idiot_," she growled and she pulled her _own_ hair now. What was she supposed to say to him now? What was she supposed to do?

She didn't know.

"Maybe I could just sneak away before anyone notices," she muttered to herself as she tried to noiselessly get off the bed without waking her unconscious partner. She had managed to only move an inch away from him before a clear voice stopped her.

"You do that and I'll shoot your other leg too," she heard a voice mumble against the bed. She instantly froze as she glanced down at the sharp blue eyes watching her with his head still buried in his arms. She quickly felt the heat creep up her neck – he was awake. Oh _shit_ he must have been awake for a while.

She gaped like a fish before she finally just shut down everything that was showing on her face and went blank. Clint didn't seem to be bothered by her typical reactionary response to – well pretty much _every_ situation she didn't know how to deal with.

"What were you thinking about Tasha?" he asked softly without lifting his head off the bed. She refused to look at him even though she knew he could tell she was racing to find an answer that wasn't completely a lie but definitely not the truth either. She thought she had come up with a pretty good one and turned to give it to him.

"Don't say it if it's going to be a lie Tasha," he said calmly before she could even open her mouth. She glared at him. He stared back at her with the same calmness that really irked her to the core. Now she realized why she was downright annoyed by him most of the time – he read her too well.

"I don't know what to say," she finally grumbled as she looked away from his searching eyes. He gave her a weak smile.

"Just tell me what you're thinking," he said simply. She shook her head and clenched her fists at her sides.

"It's not as easy as you think Clint," she muttered. He laughed softly and shook his head.

"Not easy for _you_ Tasha. I always tell you what I'm thinking. Like right I'm thinking - why are you sorry?" he whispered softly. She tensed – he was awake the _whole_ damn time.

"I'm sorry for a lot of things Clint. Most of them I can't change because they already happened," she said slowly trying to find the right words. He gave her a worn-out smile.

"If it already happened and I'm still here then I already forgave you for those things Tasha," he said softly. She winced.

"You shouldn't forgive people that easily Clint – it makes you a pushover," she said warningly. He raised an eyebrow.

"I highly doubt real forgiveness is an act of a pushover. Besides, pushovers are scared of everything and everyone. I'm not scared of you Tasha – and I'm sure not scared of anyone else," he said steadily. She clenched her jaw and told him part of what she was currently thinking.

"I think you're being irritating. And I'm still annoyed at you carrying me here," she muttered quietly. He snorted.

"I already know _that_. Tell me something I don't know," he said dryly. She looked up at his searching eyes and sighed.

"Thanks for helping me out in the alley – even if you _were_ only there while stalking my date," she said stiffly. Clint rolled his eyes – he didn't think for second she wouldn't know why he was there. First date his partner went on in years and he wasn't going sit around and miss it. It was too suspicious.

"What are friends for right?" he said with a light laugh.

She froze. That hurt _so_ much more than it should have. _Damn_.

He furrowed his eyebrows at her odd reaction.

"Tasha – are you okay?" he asked slowly. She quickly shook herself out of her momentary heart attack and glanced up at him.

"I'm fine," she muttered. He didn't look like he believed her one bit.

"You don't sound fine," he said warily. She scowled at him but then suddenly froze as she tried to hold back a real painful wince. She gritted her teeth - she _hated_ getting shot. He noticed immediately – he always does.

"I'm getting the doctor," he said swiftly rising to his feet and stalking out of the room to go hunt down a SHIELD medic. Natasha sighed as she watched him go and placed her head in her hands.

She couldn't tell him anything while she was still technically dating Steve. No one knew it was a lie. Everyone thought their relationship was real – Clint thought it was real too.

Why would he want her when he found out she could fake a convincing relationship like that? He would never trust her again.

.

.

.

.

**Round 8 **

Natasha is frustrated by her lack of results – Natasha 0: Evil 1

Clint is still dancing around their feelings like he has for years – Natasha 0 : evil 1

Total: Damn you evil.

1st - Evil – 10

2nd - Natasha - 7

3rd - Steve - 4

**A/N: LOL drama. It's too early in the story to let him know just yet. We still haven't even gone on a mission together yet! You guys will love my missions :) hehe I like action. I promise it won't be one long ass missions that goes on for 100,000 words like memories though. haha! It will be fun and suspenseful though. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Rumor has it **

**A/N: So we've seen some angsty Clintasha for a couple chapters. What have you been doing Steve? **

**Chapter 9**

It was the day after Natasha was released from medical – or more like she threatened the medical staff within an inch of their lives before they just let her go happy to be rid of the volatile agent. She couldn't face Clint right now and promptly decided she was going to escape the SHIELD base – with hopefully some dignity. He wasn't going to let her walk away without an explanation though and he determinedly followed her out of medical.

"Tasha if you move this much you're going to pull your stitches _again_," he said warily from behind her. Natasha clenched her jaw – she didn't care. She always pulled her stiches anyway.

"Stop following me Clint," she said heatedly. He raised an eyebrow. She was angry – anyone could see that. He just didn't understand the _why_.

"What's bugging you Tasha? What's _really_ bothering you?" he asked cautiously. He watched her tense and clenched her jaw.

"I have some mistakes to undo and explanations to hear," she muttered under her breath – he heard her anyway and furrowed his brow.

"Where are you _going_ Tasha?" Clint asked carefully. Natasha's face tightened as she continued her brisk walk without looking at the man who made her feel things she wasn't supposed to – but now she knew fighting it was always futile. It had always been futile – she was just a stubborn bastard.

And now she was stuck somewhere she couldn't do anything about it. She was an _idiot_.

"To see my damn _boyfriend_," she said darkly. Clint slow down and warily watched her continue to stomp down the hall. He wasn't going to follow her on _that_ journey. He came to a stop as he followed her with his eyes as she shoved the front doors open and disappeared around the corner.

For a moment he felt bad for Steve Rogers – however then he remembered that most of the time he just wanted to punch the saintly bastard in the face. But he learned how well _that_ worked the hard way.

May Tasha's wrath be ever upon him.

Clint sighed and turned around about to walk towards the shooting range where he would be able to blow off some steam when he came face to face with a blond haired girl he hadn't seen in years. He froze as their eyes locked as he thinks he was going to faint because he couldn't breathe. Oh god no. It was Barbara Morse – his ex-wife.

"Hey Clint," she said quietly as she hugged several folders to her chest. Clint took a quick step back – oh shit he couldn't be here again. Not again.

"What are you doing here Bobbi?" he asked in strained voice. She sighed at the tension in his voice and looked away.

"SHIELD needed some consultation on a key world ending type mission that they said I had to do because I still owe them a debt," she said with a sigh. She didn't want to be here. Clint stared at her with nervous eyes - he didn't want her to be here either.

"Are…are you…" he stuttered uncertainly. She glanced back at the man who had suddenly lost his words.

"I'll only be here for 2 weeks," she said softly. He winced – she still knew him too well.

"I didn't mean it like that Bobbi," he said as he ran a hesitant hand through his hair. She smiled weakly – what do you say when you meet your ex after years of avoiding each other right?

"How is Natasha doing?" she asked tilting her head to the side. Clint laughed nervously and dragged his hands over his face. Oh how _was_ his dear partner doing right now?

Driving him insane with her crazy mood swings and rash decisions as usual.

"Still cold and utterly stubborn as ever," he muttered quietly. Bobbi raised an eyebrow.

"Still dancing around each other eh?" she said with a light chuckle. He went bright red.

"No, you know we've been just friends for years Bobbi," he said shaking his head. Even though he knows they slipped a few times. Like the scene in the conference room the other day before Steve barged in on them – that was _bad_. Bobbi gave him a knowing look that he promptly ignored.

"Heard she's dating Steve Rogers," she said lightly. He winced involuntarily.

"I know," he muttered. She glanced down at the mission reports in her hands and then back up at a man who looked like he was lost in a conflict between what his heart was telling him and what his mind was trained to do after so many years.

"Makes you wonder why she choose now to finally start a relationship after 7 years of being single don't you think?" she said mysteriously. Clint furrowed his brow and gave his ex a wary look.

"What are you trying to say Bobbi? What do you want?" he asked cautiously. She gave him a sad smile.

"Nothing. Just be happy Clint. But you're not happy right now," she said simply before she took and step back and walked down the hall. Clint watched another significant girl in his life walk away and angrily shook his head before he stomped towards the shooting range like he had originally planned.

He _really_ hated talking to his Exs. They totally screw with your head.

**Rumor has it Rumor has it Rumor has it Rumor has it Rumor has it Rumor has it **

Meanwhile Natasha was currently stomping down one of the older parts of town with a determined look on her face. She had come to a speedy conclusion over the last 24 hours of her stint in SHIELD medical with an uncomfortable archer sitting at her side the whole time. Her partner was there the whole time – and he was just her friend. She tried not to think about that too hard. Things were already complicated enough.

However her '_boyfriend'_ hadn't shown up at _all_. She clenched her jaw. She was going to _kill_ him for his horrible acting and even more horrible decisions. And basically for being the biggest problem in her life right now. He didn't even call or text her. _Damn it_ he was still supposed to be her friend under all this shit they started!

Apparently Steve Rogers was avoiding her too now. What was _wrong_ with all the men in her life?

Natasha growled as she walked right into his building and stomped up the stairs towards his apartment. She whipped out a spare key she had stolen from his emergency stash and jammed it into the keyhole before she unlocked the door and threw it open with a _bang_.

"_ROGERS_!" she roared as she stormed into his apartment with her eyes blazing. Steve froze with a spoonful of yogurt in his mouth and his head in his refrigerator. He eyes widened when he realized what he was wearing– or well not wearing to be more specific.

"NATASHA KNOCK BEFORE YOU OPEN MY DOOR DAMN IT!" Steve shouted as he frantically searched for a T shirt – he was literally only clad in his patriotic boxers! She didn't even _blink_.

"Get some clothes on bastard! We have a talk to have!" she growled as she stood in his kitchen doorway with her arm crossed over her chest and an angry look on her face. Steve groaned as he dived behind his couch and frantically pulled a white T shirt with holes in it over his well-toned body and shot her a dirty look.

"What do you want Nat at- " he glanced at the clock beside him. " -8 AM IN THE MORNING?" he shouted in disbelief. Natasha glared daggers at her supposed love interest. The asshole.

"Where _were_ you?" she shouted at him. He stared at her accusations in confusion.

"What do you mean Natasha?" he said as he irritably rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes. It was too early in the god damn morning to deal with his explosive best friend. She glared at him.

"I was in damn SHIELD Medical for a whole _day_ after the gang disaster and our failed date!" she growled. A look of realization crossed his face before his pinched the bridge of his nose. God she was always jumping to conclusions.

"I _did_ come Nat," he said with a sigh. She froze and all the angry insults running through her mind came to a screeching halt.

"What?" she asked unthinkingly. All emotion gone. Steve sighed and shook his head at his crazy girlfriend.

"You were completely knocked out on drugs after the surgery. I was there for an hour or so before the Doc said only one person could stay. Clint was going to leave but I told him I had something really important to do and that I would make it up to you later or some bullshit like that. He didn't question it because obviously he wanted to stay," Steve said with a shrug. It was what she would have wanted right? He glanced up at the blinking redhead. He furrowed his brow in confusion – why was she looking at him like that?

Natasha simply continued to gape at him.

He was devious! He was a _good_ liar! He actually did something she would have done in that situation. Basically he was acting sort of like _her_.

WHEN HAD THAT HAPPENED?

"Steve?" she asked still in shock. He gave her a wary look.

"Yeah Nat?" he said slowly. She gave him a suspicious look.

"Where did the real Steve Rogers go?" she asked blankly. Steve scowled at his annoying friend.

"Shut up Natasha. I learned how to lie fairly well after being friends with you for a while," he scoffed. She stared at the irritated captain for several seconds before she sighed and suddenly collapsed onto the floor beside him. He watched her warp her arms around her knees and burry her face in her arms with concern swirling in his blue eyes.

They sat beside each other for a while as she took several deep breaths. Steve leaned back against the couch behind them and stared up at the ceiling wondering what he should say. She didn't like people coddling her or physically comforting her in anyway. She nearly stabbed him the last time he tried to give her a hug. But at the same time she was choosing to sit beside him as she went through her own unique coping rituals. He finally glanced at his strong friend and his eyes softened.

She must have had a really bad day.

"You know…If you weren't Natasha Romanoff I would accuse you of being seconds away from about to start crying," he said softly. She snorted into her arms as she hid her face and continued her self-calming breaths.

"I don't cry. I shoot things instead," she said quietly. He laughed lightly. Always the violent one.

"I know – things like my water heater," he said teasingly. He heard her scoff into her knees.

"You and your damn water heater drive me insane Rogers," she grumbled. He grinned and knocked their shoulders together – she didn't kill him. That was good.

"You know you can't live without us Romanoff," he said playfully. She didn't make a sarcastic retort like she usually does. He glanced down and saw an odd faraway look on her face. She wasn't in the mood for bickering.

"You are the last person I ever thought I would be friends with you know that?" she said quietly. His eyes fell. Oh. _That's_ what she was thinking.

"Yeah?" he said downheartedly. She nodded slowly.

"Yeah I never thought you'd want to be friends with someone as messed up as me," she said bitterly. He paused as he listened to her self-hating tone. Oh he really needed to start picking up on her weird phases. He didn't even see this conversation coming.

"We're all kind of screwed up Natasha. I don't think I've met a single sane person in SHIELD person my entire time here," he said slowly. She snorted.

"That's because you need to be bat shit _insane_ to work for these people," she muttered a bit too seriously. He raised an eyebrow.

"Means I must be crazy too right?" he said with a slight grin on his face. Natasha paused.

"Probably," she muttered. He rolled his eyes.

"Did you have breakfast yet?" he asked suddenly. She paused.

"No," she mumbled into her arms. He sighed and quickly pushed himself to his feet. He turned around and held out his hand for her to take. She stared at it suspiciously. He gave her a long look.

"I'm not giving you a hand because you're weak Natasha. It's simply a nice thing to do," he said slowly reading her mind easily. She stared at his offer for another couple of seconds before she slowly took his hand and he easily tugged her to her feet and let her go.

"You're the first person I met who does nice things for no reason," she muttered as she followed him into his kitchen. Steve scoffed.

"Not true at _all_! Clint does tons of nice things for you," he pointed out as he got out of pan and turned on his stove. She sat at his table and watched him work.

"He…he's…he's…" she stuttered trying to find the right words. Steve gave her a blank look.

"Just stop trying Natasha and finally accept the fact that he is it for you," he said calmly. She scowled at him. He was way too blunt sometimes.

"You're too good at this friend stuff," she muttered irritably. He chuckled as he finished making them some eggs.

"It's not that hard Nat," he said as he placed a plate in front of her.

She glanced down at the scrambled eggs sitting on her plate. Her eye twitched. She didn't realize that was what he was making. She was too busy depressing herself over her situation.

"I don't like eggs," she muttered pushed the yellow stuff to the side with her fork.

He stared at her in shock.

"Who doesn't like eggs?" he asked incredulously. She shrugged.

"Me," she grumbled. He scoffed.

"Eat it," he demanded.

"No," she said childishly. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I had to eat squid the other day – eat it woman," he growled. She crossed her arms and looked away. His own eye twitched.

"You're partner and the man you pine after punched me in the face last week. Now eat it!" he ordered. He saw her finally crack. He really _didn't_ deserve to get punched by her partner. She huffed and angrily stuffed a spoonful of horrible yellow mush into her mouth. She made a face that nearly had him burst out laughing.

"This tastes _disgusting_," she said with an equally disgusted look on her face. Steve simply smirked.

"Revenge is sweet," he said as he took a sip of his orange juice.

"You're _evil_,"' she muttered as she quickly took the orange juice from his hand and gulped it down to get the nasty egg taste out of her mouth. _Yuck_. Steve blinked. She was weird. He took a seat beside her and watched her glare at the yellow mush like it was the root of all her problems.

"Steve?" Natasha said suddenly while still glaring at the nasty eggs in front of her.

"What is it Natasha?" Steve asked as he leaned his forehead again his own table. Her depressing mood was making _him_ depressed too.

"Are you really sure you're not gay?" she asked quietly.

The ears on the cap's head were about to explode. But all he did was continuously bang his head against the table. Maybe he'd get a concussion and forget he was ever friends with a crazy girl like Natasha Romanoff.

"OH MY GOD!" Natasha shouted nearly falling off the bench beside him.

"What?" Steve grumbled.

"I TURNED MY BOYFRIEND GAY!" she shrieked in horror. Steve's head instantly shot up as he gave his girlfriend a disbelieving look.

"I'M NOT GAY _NATASHA_!" he bellowed at her. Natasha blinked.

"Oh okay," she said with a shrug before she fell back against the bench she was sitting on and stared up at the ceiling. Steve took several deep breaths to calm himself down. Natasha always fired him up at the worse possible moments.

"Why do you always asked me that?" he asked after several moments of companionable silence. Natasha waited a few moments before she answered.

"Because I always wonder why you put up with someone like me when you can have any other girl in the entire world," she said honestly. Steve paused - he did not expect to hear an honest answer from her.

"Sometimes best friends are worth more than a real girlfriend Natasha," he said quietly staring at his faraway looking friend. She suddenly seemed very miserable – he knew that she was hurting but she didn't show it on her face until now.

"I miss the archer who used to be my best friend," she said softly. Steve gave the depressed looking Russian a sympathetic look. He gently ran his fingers through her soft red hair as she continued to stare off into the distance.

"You'll get him back," he whispered reassuringly.

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**A/N: AHHH! O.O Steve is too damn **_**sweet**_**! Why are you doing this to me Steve? This is a damn clintasha story! Stop stealing the show! Darn your sweetness.**

**NATASHA'S TURN TO BE DAMN JEALOUS! LOL **

**Round 9**

Natasha is basically depressed – Natasha 0: Evil 1

Clint has just had a run in with a past love interest – Natasha 0 : evil 1

Steve is a damn good friend – Steve 3 (deserved points) : evil 0

Total: Damn you evil as always.

1st - Evil – 12

2nd - Natasha - 7

3rd - Steve – 7


	10. Chapter 10

**Rumor has it **

**A/N: BET THIS UPDATE EMAIL WAS A SHOCK! Well ahh hasn't it been a long time? Haha…nervous laughter. I WAS DISTRACTED BY MY OTHER CLINTASHA STORIES! I APOLOGIZE!**

**Righteously jealous Tasha anyone?**

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**Chapter 10 **

Natasha took a deep breath as her whole world narrowed in on the targets she was focused on burying an entire case of bullets into. In the small private session shooting range tucked into the corner of the SHIELD base Natasha could forget everything that was happening in her life, ignore everything that was pissing her off and simply put all here intense focus into burning her target to the ground with her angry glares – if that didn't do the job her bullets would surely doing the rest.

She was angry.

She was _unbelievably_ angry.

If she wasn't shooting the life out of something here _right now_ she knew she would definitely be hunting a very _real_ target and burying her bullets in someone she is not supposed to assassinate no matter how much she wanted to. Natasha gritted her teeth and acutely saw red flash across her vision. She could feel her dormant assassin instincts flaring up after years of being locked away ever since she accepted an offer from an archer to only kill when absolutely necessary.

He taught her there were better ways to disengaging an opponent other then outright murdering them. He taught her she could work to clear a ledger she didn't think she had any hope of getting rid of for the rest of her life. They worked through all the garbage the red room had screwed her mind with and for a while she felt like she could finally breathe easily without her dark past coming back to haunt her.

But now she could barely keep those dark instincts from pulsing through her thick red blooded Russian veins.

Because Barbara _fucking_ Morse was on base and Natasha despised that devil woman with a _passion_. 5 years ago that bitch nearly ended her longstanding partnership with the only man she would ever even considering watching her back in a fight. The Avengers came later. Steve Rogers came later. Everyone on her new team came after Clint Barton.

And now she was back and Natasha was so close to losing it that she didn't even care to acknowledge the familiar presence behind her. She has never needed to exchange unnecessary words with him before and she wasn't going to start now just because she might be '_banging'_ America's favorite soldier. She still can't believe no one at SHIELD has figured out their scam. Frankly she still can't believe the man watching her with razor sharp sniper eyes has yet to connect the dots.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

She heard the deeply unsatisfying gunfire from her pistol and she clenched her jaw because it wasn't helping in burning out her anger like it usually does. To _hell_ with everything. She might be Steve Rogers' girlfriend – but everyone _knew_ she was Clint Barton's partner long before that. Why had everything suddenly changed just because she chose to make everyone believe she _wasn't_ involved with the best marksman in the world? Where was the world for the past 7 years of their very platonic partnership? Why did everyone care so damn much that she just confirmed that she was never in a relationship with her partner?

"You only spend this much time in the shooting range when something has gone very wrong and you're on the verge of snapping Tasha," he finally said quietly from behind her after several minutes of gunfire being the only sound the room. She didn't stop firing bullets at a frightening pace because they've been through this too many times over the years. He would come find her when she was barely holding her shit together and she would deny everything until he effectively broke down all her walls.

"Nothing is wrong," she said carefully keeping her voice deceitfully neutral – it stopped working on him years ago. She heard him shift behind her and moved away from the doorway as he walked deeper into the dimly lit practice room.

"Then why are you still shooting your target board even if there is practically nothing left?" he asked calmly coming to a stop inches to her right. Natasha's eyes steeled.

"Leave me the _fuck_ alone Barton!" she grounded out. She didn't care about any stupid feelings she had for him. She didn't care that she really needed to figure out how to deal with this situation where she wanted him to be here but didn't want him here at the same time. Is _this_ how he felt for all these years?

The man was patience as a _saint_ if he had to go through this turmoil while she was in denial for 7 years.

A god damn saint.

"Did you have a fight with Rogers or something?" he asked slowly. She _finally_ stopped shooting and whipped her eyes to lock with his careful blue gaze. She promptly locked away the part of her that wanted him to look at her with more than just guarded concern swirling in his eyes. The part that wanted him to look at her the same way he used to at the beginning of their partnership. He used to look at her like he wanted to hold her, like he wanted to run his hand through her hair, like he wanted to kiss her breath away. He used to be a flirty asshole and tell her the dirty things he wanted to do to her and she used to point her gun at his face and tell him to shut the hell up. He used to laugh at her threats and forced them into an annoying number of compromising situations that messed with her head and clouded her sharp mind. The part of her that _finally_ wanted him to do those things was currently slapping her stubborn side back and forth across the face.

"That's none of your _business_," she growled harshly. Frankly she fought with Rogers _every single day_ – but it was never _lovers' spats_. If she was ever honest with herself she had more of _those_ with her own partner then Steve and she ever did. Clint was never one to be intimidated – not even by a volatile Russian who looked like she might just shoot him instead of her target – they both know she's nearly done _that_ before. No one said their partnership was perfect.

"My partner _is_ my business regardless of who she is dating. So you going to drop your damn walls and tell me what's wrong because you have been on edge since the day in medical Tasha and we _both_ know Steve Rogers has no _idea_ how to deal with you when you get like this," Clint said carefully watching her clench and unclench her hand around her gun.

Sometimes people forgot they were assassins before unofficial superheroes. Natasha could go gallivanting with superhero boyfriends all she wants but at the end of the day _he_ is the only one who can calm her down. He is the one who grounds her. He is the one who understands the true depth of her ledger. He is the one she can't throw away like she has with all her past love interests - because Natasha Romanoff _needed_ him. That was the only reason Clint hasn't flipped his shit after initially giving into his desire to sock his team leader in the face. Eventually Steve would end up on the curb like every other boytoy in her past. He might be the first man she actually declared as her boyfriend – but he was certainly not the first man she has taken to her bed of deceit and lies.

Clint was glad he's never slept with his partner – he didn't want to end up as another notch on her bedpost. No matter what he felt he would never let her do that to them. He'd rather spend another 7 years alone then let her throw him away after one night – he didn't think his heart could handle that. He glanced back up at her face and saw her sharp green eyes flash in a familiar way. He knew he was going to be roughly shoved up against the cold grey wall before she even shot forward at nearly inhuman speeds and trapped him between the cold cement and her burning body.

"You want to know what's wrong? You want to know that my life is so messed up I don't even know what I am doing anymore? You want to know why I can't even sleep properly? You want to know why I can barely keep my act together right now?" she growled dangerously close to his face. Clint felt the telling shake in her tense frame and kept his expression neutral.

"Yes. Yes I want to know all of those things Tasha – but first, _put your gun down_," he said steadily staring at her dead in the eye. He saw the darkness clear slightly as she realized exactly what she was doing.

Her safety was off on the gun she had dangerously digging into his stomach. It was not a comforting way he wanted to have an important conversation with his partner. They _really_ didn't need Sao Paulo to happen again. Not all his bullet wounds came from the enemy while they were still the enemy. Natasha stiffly lowered her gun and looked away without apologizing – she never does. The day in medical was a fluke.

"Now tell me what's wrong Tasha," he said carefully. She stared at a blank spot on the wall beside his ear. She was actively avoiding his piercing gaze even though she still had him shoved up against the wall. He could clearly feel the tension vibrating up and down his partner's body and he needed to know _why_ damn it.

"A lot of things are wrong in our world Barton," she said evasively hiding her eyes behind her short red bangs. Clint narrowed his eyes.

"Cut the crap and get to the reason you're pissed at the moment Romanoff," he said while getting just a _little_ frustrated by her natural reaction at always evading the truth. Natasha took a deep breath and he watched her eyes darken until green turned to practically black. Whatever it was it was _bad_.

"Mockingbird is here," she said darkly. She didn't feel him tense like she expected him to – that made her extremely suspicious – to the point where she had a burning feeling she knew why. There was a tense silence for several heart beats until he finally responded.

"I know," he said steadily staring at the ruined target board over her shoulder. Natasha froze and promptly ripped herself away from him. They both ignored how they felt the loss of the warmth of the other's body pressed up against their own.

"Tell me you didn't already see her Barton," Natasha said dangerously. Clint gave her a careful look as he took a step away from the wall.

"Tasha you are overreact-" he started to protest but she angrily cut him off.

"_Shut up!_ Do you know what she did to you last time? Do you know what type of shit I had to deal with for weeks from you? Do you even _remember_ the state you were in after she fucked with your head Clint?" Natasha shouted breathing in harsh ragged breaths. She wouldn't go through that again. She wasn't going to deal with that again. She refused to see that happen again. Clint took a sharp breath through his nose and kept his own anger in check. One angry assassin was already one too many.

"Natasha that was 5 years ago. I'm not a young hotheaded assassin anymore. _I grew up_. I can fight my own ghosts," he said tightly. He didn't appreciate his partner underestimating his ability to deal with his own shit. Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"She's not a ghost Barton," Natasha said warningly shaking her head. Bobbi was _definitely_ not a ghost. Clint resisted the intense urge to clench his jaw – he wasn't going to get wound up like his partner.

"I know she's not – but you're not my babysitter _either_ Natasha," he said tensely. He didn't need her to fight his battles for him. Natasha felt his more than a little sharp words were like a slap in the face.

Silence.

They both looked ready to kill each other right when both their SHIELD phones started to ring in a familiar tune. They both flipped their respective communicators open and held it to their ears.

"Hawkeye and Black Widow here sir," they both said at the same time instantly switching to their professional tones. It was just like old times.

"Both of you get your asses down in my office _right this minute_. There is an impending crisis that we have to deal with at the upcoming United Nations world peace conference happening in Turkey in 3 days. Round up the other Avengers – we're going to need them. _Every_ single one of you are going to go – understood Barton?" Fury said warningly. He _needed_ his best sniper for this job and no drama between teammates was going to allow him from saying no to this mission. Barton knew he had reached the end of his leeway rope and didn't even bother to refuse. It was time to get his act together and work with his partner no matter the shit they had going on between them and their teammates.

"Understood Sir," he said carefully. They both heard Fury pause for a second as he absorbed the fact that agent Barton was not arguing him on this job.

"Good. Get ready for the biggest assassination of your careers because someone from the black lotus terrorist group has impersonated the Chinese UN representative Li Baodong and we need to stop them from bombing this conference full of some of the most important diplomats in the world and practically starting world war 3," Fury said gruffly while rubbing his forehead in frustration. Why must these criminals always be such a big pain in his ass?

Natasha and Clint both shared a blank look. As if villains are not always trying to cause world war 3 every few months.

"Sounds like just another day on this crazy team you put us on Director. We'll see you in 20 minutes Sir," Natasha said steadily before she promptly ended the call and snapped her phone shut. Clint followed her motion and let his arm dropped to his side. They both stared at each other as a million unsaid words simmered in the air between the two partners.

_Say something. Say something. Say something. _She chanted in her head._ Just say something because I can't do it. Tell me you know what I'm doing. Tell me you know it's all one big fat lie. Tell me you still want me after all the shit I've put you through. I can't do this confession crap. _Clint clenched his hand around his communicator and took a deep breath.

"When this mission is over we're going to have a serious talk about whatever you've been trying to do over the last 2 weeks Tasha. I know something is up and I know it's eating you up inside because it's eating at _me_ Tasha and I don't even know what it is. I know you Tasha. I know you make batshit insane plans that you don't always think through instead of outright saying what's on your mind, but right now I don't know what you are trying to say and I don't have time to figure it out. Go find Steve while I get Tony and Bruce," he said firmly before he took a step away from her and turned to walk out of the room. They were definitely going to deal with whatever her problem is later. Natasha promptly wiped all the emotion off her face and followed him out the door.

He didn't say what she wanted him to say.

"See you in the director's office," she said quietly turning to walk the oppose direction down the familiar SHIELD hall. She had a super serum pumped boyfriend to find who was likely punching the crap out of his favorite punching bag of the week in the SHIELD underground gym. She felt her partner's eyes burning into her back – but she didn't stop walking.

"Tasha?" he called out from behind her when she was a few seconds away from rounding the corner. She paused in her step and waited to hear what he would say.

"Don't kill her Tasha– she's useful for SHIELD and I don't feel like busting my partner out of prison with a world crisis on the horizon," Clint said carefully. Natasha closed her eyes and resisted the urge to punch a hole in the wall beside her.

"I don't make promises I can't keep Clint," she said darkly before she disappeared from his sight.

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**A/N: INTENSE! This chapter was meant to highlight some of reasons why Natasha and Steve may never romantically work even if Clint **_**wasn't**_** around to completely dominant her interest. Natasha has a darker side she doesn't really show Steve or frankly anyone beside her partner. Maybe he could do it in an alternate universe that exist on fanfiction – but probably not in 'rumor has it' world. haha. **

**Now time to go on an Avengers mission in the middle of all this drama! WOO! And who knows maybe Steve can help the clintasha stalemate if he gets any interesting ideas? He might surprise you. **

**Tony Stark and the Avengers at an important UN conference? Oh dear god ;)**

Round 10

Natasha is slowly losing it from all the lies – Natasha 0 : Evil 1

Clint is definitely catching on though – Natasha 1 : evil 0

Bobbi Morse the damn ex-wife is going screw them over Natasha 0: evil 1

Total: WHY EVIL? YOU MAY WILL THIS BATTLE BUT YOU WILL NOT WIN THE WAR!

1st - Evil – 14

2nd - Natasha - 8

3rd - Steve – 7

**A/N: Anyone still interested in finally out how this story is going to end? I know it's been a few months but I do have a nice idea of how this is all going to go down. Between Steve, Bobbi, Natasha, Clint and all the other Avengers it's going to be one insane disaster. **

**Review and let me know! Time for some action. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Rumor has it **

**A/N: Drama….like you have **_**no**_** idea. NO IDEA! **

**Ahem. Natasha is bat shit insane under all those cold calm masks. See if you agree with me. **

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**Chapter 11 **

Steve felt his muscles tense as he focused solely on channeling all his pent up anger into the punching bag in front of him. He felt the rhythmic flow of landing a solid blow every few seconds vibrate through his entire body. Strike. Pull back. Switch arms. Strike. Pull back. Switch arms. It was an addicting pattern that was easy to get lost in when he didn't want to think about his crazy life anymore and just wanted to punch his demons into the ground. He didn't know why he kept the habit up even after 6 months – if a punch bag would make his inner demons go away it would have happened months ago.

"How many bags did you did you destroy _this_ week?" a familiar voice asked from behind him.

"Just three," he grunted as he continued his silent routine. He felt her walk along the wall before she came to a stop directly behind his current punch bag of the hour. Natasha Romanoff was interrupting his day – _again_.

"That's better than last week – I think you came close to almost 9 that time," she said quietly watching him beat his demons with his powerful blows.

"Rough mission," he muttered noncommittally. They didn't usually talk about the missions they went on separately – some things are better left unsaid. Steve was a soldier – there was no possible way he didn't see the atrocities that still occurred in their world 70 years later. The fact that his belief in humanity still remained intact after everything he has been through meant he had a bigger heart then she thought – or he was simply an idiot. She watched him finally grab the swinging bag as his punches finally came to a stop. He was drenched in his own sweat and when he finally tore his eyes away from his workout and locked with her own she knew he was going to say something she might kill him for.

"You look like you just had a run in with the devil Nat," he said carefully. Natasha gave him the _don't mess with me_ _boy_ glare.

"I'm fine," she said crossing her arms and waiting for him to step away from his punching bag of death so that she could tell him about their mission and get out of here. Steve gave her a once over look and stared at her dead in the eye.

"No you're not – you look like you want to hit something and haven't slept in days," he said simply. Natasha's eye twitch – what was wrong with all the men in her life today?

"Everyone looks like that around here Steve," she said warningly. She didn't need another man worrying himself into the ground about her – one American worrywart was more than enough.

"You got a _special_ way of looking messed up Nat," Steve said dryly.

"You're such a charming boyfriend Steve," Natasha shot back sarcastically. Steve rolled his eyes and picked up his water bottle off the ground and took a generous sip from it. He took an extra-long time to swallow just to see the very particular twitch of annoyance on her face that meant she was seriously considering maiming him.

"If I _was_ your boyfriend you wouldn't force me to _fake_ date you, _fake_ sleep with you or _fake_ be with you to piss off an archer which frankly you are failing _spectacularly_ at," Steve said after a long minute of her silently watching him practically make out with his water bottle.

"You agreed to be my boyfriend – I'm not the only one responsible for this disaster relationship," she said stiffly. Steve scoffed. Did she not hear the word _fake_?

"I feel like I'm in an _abusive_ relationship," he muttered under his breath. Natasha snorted.

"You've never _been_ in a relationship," she said giving him a pointed look. Steve scowled at her.

"You know I had a real nice girl before my world saving plane crash threw me into a 70 years _coma_. Then I wake up to the 21st century and 6 months later I'm on a new team, in a fake relationship with the only woman who is practically already taken by my teammate and I still haven't found an actual nice girl that is not in love with someone _else_!" Steve said irritably whipping his water bottle across the room and watched it burst open and drench the entire wall in water.

"Who the hell said I was a _nice_ girl? I kill men as a _job_!" she growled. Steve suddenly paused as he replayed her harsh response in his head.

"No - that's called fighting back Natasha. It's called doing the world a necessary service," Steve said steadily. Natasha snorted.

"You can beautify soldierhood all you want Steve - but at the end of the day we're all doing dirty business. You're the only person on this base who even comes _close_ to having a clean past. No one works for SHIELD unless they screwed up big time somewhere in their life," she said firmly. Every _single_ agent she has ever met had something nasty to hide.

"You don't think I'm a screw up too Natasha? You don't think that I've made mistakes too?" Steve asked heatedly.

"Never as many as I have Rogers," she said darkly. Steve paused as he took one good look at her rigid form.

"You talked to him just now didn't you?" Steve asked slowly. Natasha tensed – how the hell did he know that? Steve saw the question flash across her eyes and answered before she even asked.

"I can tell because you always get really cold after a confrontation with Barton," he said carefully. Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"We don't have time to play the pick Natasha's brain game Steve. I'm sick of you always trying to be my damn therapist," she growled. Steve glared at her.

"What am I supposed to be when you're acting like a crazy person Nat? I'm sick of your denial and stubbornness - just to fess up and _deal_ with him!" Steve said running his hand through his hair in frustration.

"It's not that easy right now Steve!" Natasha said angrily clenching her fists at her sides. Steve's expression suddenly looked way too determined for her liking.

"Yes it _is_. I've had enough of your crazy plans Nat_. _We're telling him _now_," Steve said making up his mind and turning towards the door. Natasha tensed.

"No we're _not_," she growled as she instantly blocked his path with her body. Steve narrowed his eyes.

"Get out of my way Natasha," he said stiffly. He was done with all these lies. Natasha firmly shook her head.

"You're not leaving this room until you promise you aren't saying a word to my partner," she said warningly. Steve stared at her serious face in disbelief.

"Natasha I'm _tired_ of being dragged around and having to pretend to be someone I'm not. I'm not a spy Nat – my acting is crap and we both know it. The only reason anyone believes us is because they still can't get passed the _how is this even possible_ part," Steve exclaimed gesturing haphazardly between the two of them. Natasha glared at him fiercely.

"I will shoot you if you take one step towards this door," she said threateningly. She had no gun in her hand but they both knew she had one on her person that she could fire in less than a millisecond. Steve stared at her dead in the eye.

"I can run faster than your bullets," he said confidently. Super soldier serum had its perks. She narrowed her eyes.

"I'd like to see you try Rogers," she said challengingly. Steve took a deep breath through his nose and his eyes flashed to the open doorway behind her.

"I'm going to tell him and you're not going to stop me!" Steve said firmly before he instantly dived to the right and tried to quickly maneuver around the dangerous spy so that he could get out of this training room. Natasha was not going to let that happen.

"You will do no such thing you big oversized _mutt_!" she shouted as she expertly tripped the super soldier and slammed her hand again the keypad beside the door to punch in the deactivation code before he could get back up.

"What is it with you and calling me a dog?" Steve shouted as he shot to his feet behind her ready to break down the metal door – just because she locked them in here doesn't mean he still can't get out.

"Stop acting like a stupid dog then!" she shouted back.

"Dogs are not stupid - they are highly intelligent beings that have aided-" Steve started to protest but Natasha was just staring at his little rant in disbelief.

"Shut up Rogers you are completely missing the damn point!" she growled as she suddenly shoved him back away from the door, elbowed his in the gut to throw him off balance and yanked him by his hair before she slammed him into the ground. They both knew the only reason she could do that was because he refused to physically fight her back.

"That is a dirty move Romanoff!" Steve shouted as he winced from the hard impact with the ground. Natasha ignored his protests and instantly pinned him to the ground with her knees digging into his chest and a gun pointed at his forehead – if he wanted to disable her he would have to hurt her. She knew he wouldn't risk it.

"You. Are. Not. Going. To. Say. _Anything_," Natasha said threateningly as she towered over the well-built superhero.

"Why won't you let me break up with you _damn it_?" Steve exclaimed in anger as she held him at gun point. Natasha eyes darkened.

"Because in 1 hour we're all being shipped to Turkey for an important Avengers mission and I can't work with him if all of this crap explodes right now," she said stiffly. Steve finally stopped seething in anger as he started to understand what exactly her problem was with telling Clint anything right now. He sighed and dropped his head back against the cold gym floor.

"Natasha - he's not going to freak out as much as you think he is," Steve said tiredly. He felt the gun pressed harder against his forehead but he had a feeling the safety was on – he was sure it had been on the whole time.

"You don't know him Steve. He's not like other men - the man actually _picked out_ my dress for our fail date and then preceded to _stalk_ us, not because he wanted to sabotage it - but because he's my friend and he doesn't want me to get hurt or some other sentimental crap reason he would give if I forced it out of him," Natasha said gruffly. Steve really wished it wasn't part of his personal code of conduct to never hit a woman because damn did he want to slap some sense into _this_ Russian.

"So you _screwed _up! It's called admitting to your mistakes and fixing them Nat! Whatever you wanted from him is not going to happen because you made him jealous! He's not even running after you or trying to kill me anymore! If anything he's getting _used_ to us! What the hell does _that_ say?" Steve said in disbelief. Natasha suddenly dropped her gun from his face and looked away.

"I forgot," she muttered as she let her gun slip out of her hand and clatter to the floor beside Steve's head. She was tired of pointing her gun at her teammates multiple times today.

"Forgot what?" Steve asked carefully.

"It's a part of his job. It's the only reason our partnership works - he's not _allowed_ to get jealous, he trained not to be jealous - otherwise we couldn't do our jobs," Natasha said in defeat. She made a tactical mistake in her already terrible plan.

"So…how did we end up here exactly?" he asked warily gesturing towards her current position of basically sitting on him, but she knew he was talking about essentially everything. Natasha shot him a burning look and huffed as she finally pushed herself off of him and stood up.

"I was helping _your_ reputation idiot!" she growled down at the most annoying captain in her life. Steve took a sharp breath as he stood up as well.

"Yes and you _did_ help. Agents don't rib me for being as old fashion as they think I am – but we don't _need_ to keep up the charade anymore Nat! You don't have to tell everyone our relationship was a lie - just tell the damn man you're in love with the truth and let me _go_!" Steve said insistently. He was never a good liar. He didn't want to be a liar. Lying was not something he endorsed and none of this sat well with his conscience. Natasha froze as his words rang in her ears.

"Love is for chil-" she started to say her normal reactionary response but Steve was finally fed up and threw his hand up in the air in frustration.

"Oh for the love of god don't start that tangent Natasha! There is no possible way someone would do all of this without being bat shit crazy in love with the person they're trying to get the attention of!" Steve exclaimed in disbelief. She was so damn _stubborn_. Natasha glared at him.

"He doesn't control me. I can want whoever I want," she said darkly. They both chose not to mention how that sounded just a _little_ bit more arrogant that she usually was. Natasha wasn't even close to being the most egotistical member on their team - but she definitely had an ego under all that ice and indifference. Steve sighed and closed his eyes as he ran a hand through his short hair.

"You don't choose who you fall in love with Nat," Steve said softly. He knew what he was talking about too. If he could turn off his feelings for Peggy he would have done so a long time ago - it hurts to know you can never be with the one you want – why doesn't she see she already had Barton since the day they started their partnership?

"_Bullshit_," he heard the low growl break into his thoughts. He sighed in defeat.

Here we go again. Steve opened his eyes and leveled his girlfriend with a pointed stare.

"Did you _really_ choose to want him - or did it just happen because of the naturally progression of your relationship? Because that is how most feelings work Natasha. There is no such thing as love at first sight – but there is definitely such thing as falling in love before you realize it," Steve said firmly. Natasha clenched her jaw.

"I _really_ hate when you go all poetic on me Steve," she said with annoyance clear in her sharp voice.

"It's not poetry – it's the truth," Steve said carefully.

"_I_ run my life Steve – no one else," she said harshly. Steve sighed.

"Feelings don't worth like that Natasha. You can't always control how you feel," Steve said slowly. Natasha's eyes suddenly darkened. Oh yes she could.

"You're my boyfriend right? So doesn't that mean I can kiss you if I wanted to?" Natasha asked suddenly with an odd look in her eye. Steve had a bad feeling about all this when she suddenly took a step into his personal space – Natasha was always invading his personal space – but this was _different_.

"Wrong - it's _pretend _Nat," Steve said carefully taking a step back.

"Everything in life is pretend," Natasha whispered flashing him a flirty smile that sent an unpleasant shiver up his spine. He didn't think it was real for a _second_.

"I don't think you should use me as a replacement for what you want with your partner," Steve said taking another step back until he felt his back hit the cold wall – crap he was screwed the moment the Black Widow made him her target. Steve made sure to keep his eyes locked with her darkened green ones even as she trapped him between the wall and her too close warm _feminine_ body.

"Why not? It sure would be a hell of a lot less complicated," she said casually running her long expert fingers down the center of his chest and leaving a sensitive trail of Goosebumps in her wake. Steve tensed and forced himself not to react to her delicate touches. He wouldn't react to something that was clearly not real.

"We wouldn't work Nat – not only because you're always going to want him instead, but because you're not actually attracted to me," Steve said firmly. He had a feeling she could fake anything though – he knows that to be the best at what she does she had to be able to fake any type of feeling with anyone. He froze as she suddenly stopped trailing her hands down his body and instantly snaked her arms around his neck, crushed their bodies together and breathed warm air against his ear. _Holy shit_ he was not trained in the military for this kind of attack.

"That's not true. I think you're innocence makes you look delectable. I think your hot body mixed with your shy little boy personality would make any woman want to just _eat you up_," she whispered as her words brushed dangerously close to his lips.

"_Natasha_…" Steve said warningly. She ignored him as she continued to tease him.

"Do you want me Steve? Do you really want to know what it's like to be with a woman who knows what she's doing and can make you scream in ecstasy? Don't you want lose that pesky virginity to someone who will make you cum harder then you ever had even in your dirtiest wildest dreams? Doesn't America's favourite soldier want a taste of everything he has been missing?" she whispered seductively in his ear as her lips brushed his outer ear lobe and her hands buried into his hair as she draw him closer. Steve inhaled a sharp breath of perfume, gunpowder and something distinctly _Natasha_. This was dangerous. _She_ was dangerous. He promised himself a long time ago that he would never fall for a girl that clearly belonged to someone else.

He was so screwed it wasn't even funny.

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**A/N: THE EPIC CLIFF HANGER OF DRAMA! LOL **

Round 11

Natasha has clearly lost it – Natasha 0 : Evil 1

Steve is so screwed with a Natasha in black widow mode – Steve 0 : evil 1

Total: Evil…maybe I should just give you the rumor has it trophy before this story ends…

1st - Evil – 16

2nd - Natasha - 8

3rd - Steve – 7

**A/N: Review and let me know what you think is going to happen! :D I wrote the next chapter already so if you review maybe I'll post it soon ;) (I am not above bribery!) **

**Wonder who should just walk right in? ;) **


	12. Chapter 12

**Rumor has it **

**A/N: Wow that was an…explosive response! Why are you all freaking out? haha. I can make you all feel better by giving the story plot away – but then what would be the point of reading the story right? We all know how this is going to end though right? (If you don't please read the official pairing) This little problem is just pure drama for fun XD If you wanted pure clintasha you should read my other Clintasha stories – not this one. This one has a lot of Steve and will continue to have him for quite some time. **

**Read on if you like! Try to remember that Clintasha is my OTP too ;) I just like messing with you guys. **

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**Chapter 12 **

Steve took a sharp breath and firmly glared at the Russian who was currently being a pain in his ass.

"Cat got you're tongue Captain?" she whispered with a knowing smirk pulling at her red lips. Steve narrowed his eyes.

"_No_," he said determinedly even though his breathing rate had become uneven and his heart rate had elevated to unhealthy levels. It was hard not to respond to an extremely alluring and attractive woman like Natasha Romanoff – but that didn't mean he actually wanted her. Especially not when she was obviously playing a character. He felt her chuckle lightly and tensed as one of her hands left his hair and started inching its way down his back.

"I think you're lying little soldier," she whispered as her lips ghosted over his cheek. He really hated how she was forcefully enticing a response from his body against his will. He knew she was good and it was pissing him off.

"_Stop it_ Natasha," Steve said as he roughly grabbed both her hands and halted her downwards journey to somewhere she was no way in _hell_ going. If Clint killed him for faking dating his partner like he knew he was going to try – he would absolutely _torture_ the captain if he ever found out he let her get physical with him. Frankly Steve did not have a death wish.

"But I'm not doing anything Steve," she said innocently tilting her head to the side even as he tightly held her wrists high above her head and far, _far_ away from anywhere below his waist. It was a harder feat then he would like to admit.

"Have you ever tried seducing Clint?" Steve asked seriously trying to defuse her desire to screw his self-control. He felt her tense ever so slightly and he _knew_ she was doing this to try and forget about her partner that haunted her thoughts.

"Barton's not here right now. It's just you and me," she whispered as she expertly distracted him by suddenly pressing her rather obvious cleavage into his chest. Steve felt his entire face start to burn up as he unwilling responded to her soft warm body being pressed up against his. His eyes were unfocused for just a second but that was all the Russian assassin needed to take control of the situation. Before Steve could stop her she slammed her lips down on his and roughly stole his breath away. In his shock he accidentally let go of the spy's hands – which was the _stupidest_ thing he could have done because the next he knew he was roughly being pulled forward by skilled Russian hands that dug into his hair. He squeaked as he felt something grab his ass and that allowed Natasha to deepen the forceful kiss. She ignored how a darker shade of brown hair flashed across her eyes, she ignored how she was unwillingly imagining what it would be like to kiss a slightly shorter man, she damn well _shot_ the thought of how she was staring into the wrong shade of blue eyes.

Natasha knew she was so utterly _screwed_.

Steve just hoped she would stop kissing him before he passed out in mortification.

After a few tense seconds of both of them knowing it wasn't working for either of them Natasha finally pulled back and took several controlled breaths and she gripped his shirt tightly in her fist and glared daggers at the wall behind him.

"Are you happy _now_?" Steve asked gruffly trying to catch his breath after practically being attacked by his seriously stubborn friend who was trying to prove something they both knew was futile. She was ruined for all other men long before she ever realized she had feelings for an archer.

"It's not the _same_," Natasha muttered irritably. Why was it not the same? Steve shot her a disbelieving look.

"Of course it's not the same woman! Don't you get it? I'm not Clint Barton! It's not going to feel right unless it's him you're directing all this insanity towards," Steve said heatedly gesturing towards the currently nonexistent space between them. He tried to ignore any of the other emotions that were running through his head at the moment. He refused to acknowledge he was feeling anything other than annoyance and frustration towards the Russian agent. There was no _reason_ to feel anything else.

"It's not supposed to work like that," Natasha said as she clenched her hand around his shirt with a frustrated look on her face. She just didn't understand. Steve finally sighed and felt the anger drain out of him.

"You're scared Nat. You want him but you're scared – why?" he asked quietly resting his palm against her cheek – she didn't even look like she felt it.

"Because sleeping with him means emotions and all the crap that comes along with it," Natasha said tiredly as she finally stopped trying to force him into something they would both probably regret. She was a good seductress – but she didn't have it in her to truly seduce her one real friend. Steve _stared_ at her.

"And sleeping with your best friend doesn't have the same emotional _garbage_?" he asked feeling slightly insulted. He deserved _some_ credit in her life right? He put up with enough of her bullshit to merit some respect right? His words instantly sparked her irrational anger again. He felt like repeatedly banging his head against the wall.

"Stop bringing your 19th century ideals into this Rogers," she hissed at him. Steve narrowed his eyes.

"You know what I learned about women in this new world Nat? You all think that sex has nothing to do with love and affection and being connected. You think equality means being as detached and uncaring as some of the coldest men in the world. You think the old fashion means boring and prudish and all the other insulting slurs agents throw around behind me back. But I think you are all just _lying_. I don't think making love has changed. I think all girls want to share that moment with a man that actually _cares_ for them. I don't know about other men – but I don't want to do it with any random girl Nat – I want it to _mean_ something!" he said heatedly clenched his fists at his sides in an unnecessary attempt to not accidentally hurt her. As _if_ she couldn't hold her own ground.

"Pretty words in a dark world Rogers," Natasha said warningly. She didn't grow up in the same world he did – frankly she though he was full of idealist crap. Steve shook his head fervently – she just didn't _get_ it.

"The world is only as dark as you want it to be – there are plenty of bright spots that are worth fighting for," he shot back holding his ground against the pessimistic woman. She suddenly pulled away from him and if she wasn't Natasha Romanoff he would swear she looked almost…lost.

"You really choose the wrong person to be friends with then Mr. I can save the world with love," she said with an almost broken laughter. Steve's eyes softened and he shook his head again.

"I don't think so. I think you're a good friend Natasha," he said quietly reaching up and brushing the red hair that had fallen over her face away from her eyes. Her laugh turned 10 shades darker and for once Steve wished his friend wasn't as broken as he knew she was. They were all broken – but that didn't mean she didn't deserve to have people who cared for her.

"Really? You think good friends force you to pose as their fake boyfriend just to get a reaction out of their partner? You think good friends try to seduce you just to prove that they aren't so far gone in their obsession with someone else? You think good friends put you through the crap I've put you through?" she said roughly shoving him back against the wall in her anger. Steve kept his calm even though all he really wanted to do was shake her back.

"You look out for me don't you? You threaten Stark within an inch of his life when he is being unbearable in his annoy remarks about my real age and habits don't you? You pull me out of countless near death experiences during missions don't you?" he asked staring at her dead in the eye. She _was_ a good friend. Many people don't stick around when things get rough – she did. Natasha firmly shook her head and huffed.

"Those things mean nothing. I look out for you because we're teammates. Stark annoys the shit out of me too – I shut him up for my own benefit. I save your ass because it's my _job_," Natasha said refusing to take his reasons as proof. Steve stared at her in disbelief.

"You know, you are like your own worst enemy Natasha!" Steve exclaimed in irritation.

"What do you want me to do about it?" she asked angrily. Steve shot her a heated look.

"Why are you here then Nat? Why are you messing with _my_ head? Why? Because we all know you're in love with _him_!" Steve exclaimed as he finally gave in to his frustration and forcefully shook the Russian by her shoulders. He knew that the anger coming off of her in waves meant she was about to deny everything until suddenly her irritated expression froze before it promptly blanked and all the words stopped in her throat. Steve didn't know the Russian assassin long enough to figure out when she was lying _every_ single time – but he definitely knew she just threw up a million walls for some reason.

"_Shit_," Natasha hissed under her breath staring daggers at something behind Steve – or someone. He slowly turned around to see what exactly had caught her attention. There was a slim blond agent wearing the distinct SHIELD uniform standing in the doorway of the gym – he swore Natasha had locked it in her attempt to trap him here so that he wouldn't rat them out to her partner.

"Sorry to interrupt your private conversation – but everyone is already waiting on the Director's office for the official briefing with the rest of the Avengers," the rather pretty but tired looking blond said with a weak apologetic smile. Steve gave her a careful look and realized he didn't recognize her from all the agents they see every day.

"I'm sorry I'm not familiar with all the agents at SHIELD - who are you?" Steve asked slowly dropping his hands from Natasha's more than a little tense shoulders. The Russian obviously didn't like this person – whoever she was. The blond tilted her head to the side and flashed him a pretty smile – after working for SHIELD for over 6 months Steve have become wary of pretty smiles.

"I'm agent Mockingbird – your informant and field expert for the UN mission in Turkey. Nice to meet you Steve Rogers," she said holding out her hand in a universal sign of respectful introductions. Steve gave her a quizzing look but saw no reason not to accept her handshake. Natasha wasn't going to have any of that. How the hell did Bobbi Morse get passed her deactivation codes?

"Don't touch her," Natasha said roughly dragging his arm back before he could fully grasp her hand. Steve shot her a questioning look but Natasha wasn't looking at him – she was glaring icy daggers at their new company. Bobbi raised an eyebrow but casually dropped her offered hand all the same.

"A little possessive of your boyfriend aren't you Romanoff?" Bobbi said warily taking a step back all the same. She's not stupid enough to outright enrage a skilled Russian assassin. Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"A little beat up after your last 5 years of exile from America aren't you Morse?" Natasha shot back giving Bobbi's slightly worn and weathered appearance a once over – Morse looked like a hardened woman who has been on the run for a long time. She was _exactly_ what she looked like. Steve glanced back and forth between the two agents and for once he decided to keep his mouth shut and just watched the interaction play out. He learned from Stark's mistakes – don't make yourself look like a total idiot when you don't know what exactly is going on. Bobbi suddenly gave the Russian a tight smile.

"I'm not the only one who's been forsaken by her country. At least I earned my right to come back into my motherland. Someone I know is still considered a wanted fugitive and is on the _shoot on site_ list if Russian Intelligence ever catches whiff of her even toeing the boarder of _their_ country," Bobbi said airily. Natasha gave her a cold look – just because Natalia Romanova is banned from entry into the soviet country doesn't mean agent Romanoff is – Russian intelligence _loves_ her. She didn't need to play these games. She was going to get straight to the point.

"Why do we need an informant? Barton and I can run intelligence on this mission fine," Natasha said coldly giving the blond the closest thing to a dirty look an expressionless face can give. Bobbi didn't look phased at all – it was a testament to the woman's true ability to stand her ground.

"Because I've been in British intelligence for the past 3 years and I was originally posted as external security for the UN conference. I'd still be there under British orders if we didn't get whiff of the bombing plan and the Chinese impersonation plot 2 days ago. Then SHIELD decides to cash in on my debt and wants me to work on their side of stopping the bomb threat. Apparently it's important enough to drag the famous Avengers team into the mess," she said looking away from the tensed Russian and glancing at the silent Avengers leader.

"Is she keeping you on a tight leash Mr. Rogers?" Bobbi asked curiously. Steve gave her a long look.

"I'm hardly on a leash agent Morse. It's called a relationship – which is supposed to be built on _trust, love, and affection_," Steve said steadily stressing the last few words and felt damn proud when he felt Natasha tensed up with each word. _Not_ _lies, deceit and deception_ – was left unsaid. Oh yeah she _better_ feel uncomfortable – he has being feeling uneasy through this entire disaster charade. Natasha ignored his stab at expressing how unhappy he was with her and kept her attention on the woman in front of them.

"I won't believe a word that comes out of your month until I hear confirmation from Fury," Natasha said firmly. Bobbi rolled her eyes.

"Well thank you for wasting my time then Widow," she said sarcastically. Natasha snorted.

"No one asked you to share your life story Bird," Natasha shot back with equal sarcasm. Bobbi narrowed her eyes and Natasha could feel she had successfully ruffled some feathers.

"Still jealous that I've flown with the best while you're still stuck on the ground spider?" Bobbi asked carefully. Natasha clenched her jaw in anger but before she could give a biting response Bobbi had already beat her to it.

"Any more soul shattering questions Romanoff? Or can we get moving before Fury starts breathing down my neck and Clint accuses me of committing unnecessary murder?" Bobbi asked tilting her head to the side and cocking an eyebrow. Natasha gave her the _drop dead bitch_ look before she promptly shoved passed the blond agent and stalked down the hall. Steve gave Bobbi one last wary glance before he quickly caught up to his seething girlfriend who he would _really_ like to break up with but couldn't because of their damn complicated jobs. He easily fell into step with her fast pace and could feel the staring from agent Mockingbird as she followed behind them on their way to the Director's office.

"How real are we supposed to keep this?" he asked quietly. Natasha didn't react and for a second Steve thought she was ignoring him until she finally spoke.

"Very real," Natasha said gruffly – acutely aware of the agent trailing behind them at a decent distance. Steve sighed and reached down to grab her hand and intertwined their hands together – they both instantly felt the staring increase in its intensity.

"I _really_ hate being your boyfriend," he said point blank as he gave her smaller hand a comforting squeeze. Natasha glanced down at their joined hands and a barest hint of longing flashed across her face.

"Yeah I really wish you were someone else," she muttered as she squeezed back. Steve stared at their hands for a second longer then he normally would and looked away. He needed this to stop before he started feeling things he wasn't supposed. The second this mission was over and he broke up with her he was going to stay far, far away from the volatile Russian spy. He refused to fall for someone who wasn't his and would never be his. He refused to want someone who would never want him back. He was determined not to let this go any farther than it already had.

She just made it so damn _difficult_.

Stupid stubborn Russians screwing him over big time. He was never going to let a Russian assassin talk him into anything like this _ever_ again.

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**A/N: Well…DAMN. I don't know how much more Natasha can screw up this situation – but it is apparently very possible to get worse with her bad luck. Add a crazy Russian to a story and she complicates everything haha. **

**Yeah so maybe Steve likes her just a **_**little**_** bit. Can you blame him? She is the stupid one who started all of this – blame her if you have to blame somebody. XD **

**Anyone missing Clint? Probably. Trust me things are going to be Avengers and mission based starting from the next chapter. The next 10 chapters is Clint/Steve/Natasha/Bobbi all within 100 feet of each other linked through communicators the entire thing. Everyone can hear everything and it is going to be hell haha. **

**Round 12**

At least Natasha realized she's never going to want anyone except her partner (pity points – can you blame me?) – Natasha 1 : Evil 0

Steve is smart enough not to chase after a girl he knows he is never going to get (pity points – again) – Steve 1 : evil 0

Bobbi is going to be on the mission and who knows if she is a real threat right? - Natasha 0: Evil 1

Total: Evil…what can I say? Time for Natasha to earn some points back?

1st - Evil – 17

2nd - Natasha - 9

3rd - Steve – 8

**A/N: Now. How on earth is Natasha going to fix the mess she has created? **


	13. Chapter 13

**Rumor has it **

**A/N: Now it's been a while…BUT I AM BACK! **

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**Chapter 13**

Steve and Natasha both tensely made their way down the SHIELD hall with the tension in the most unlikely trio on earth practically causing the air to catch on fire.

"Is everyone else already in the director's office?" Steve asked quietly. Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"That's was the she-devil said," she muttered under her breath as she discreetly glanced over her shoulder and scowled when she saw Morse still trailing them. Steve gave the antsy assassin a careful look. He has never seen her _this_ edgy around another agent in his life.

"Who is she exactly Natasha?" Steve asked quietly. Natasha inhaled a sharp breath through her nose and if he was anyone else besides a super soldier she would have _broken_ his hand with the death grip she had on it.

"_Barton's ex-wife_," Natasha spat through gritted teeth. Steve froze and nearly caused her to ram right into him.

"He was _married_?" he whispered in disbelief. No _wonder_ Natasha hated the woman's guts.

"He's nearly 10 years older than you Steve – what do you expect? Celibacy?" Natasha muttered as she dragged him around the corner.

"I just…I didn't see Barton as the marrying type…," he said trying to wrap his head around the fact that Barton could want anyone other than the crazy redhead who was currently dragging his body towards the director's office. Natasha shook her head.

"He's full of surprises – trust me. I didn't see it either," she said irritably. Steve furrowed his brow as he watched the agitation play across her pretty yet deadly face.

"Who ended it?" he asked quietly. Natasha stiffened but answered his question right before they reached their desired destination.

"She did," Natasha said darkly. And the bitch left him in pieces that Natasha had to spend months tediously gluing back together. It was a damn _nightmare_. Steve was about to ask her what exactly went down between agent Morse and agent Barton to cause a break up that was _this_ messy when the clear distinct roar of the director's voice echoed down the hall from around the corner.

"TONY STARK!" Fury bellowed in rage. Steve and Natasha both stopped dead in their tracks as they warily stared through the half opened doorway leading into the director's office. They could make out half the profile of their enraged director and somewhere off to the side must be the object that currently incurred his anger.

"Why do you yell _my_ name without even having evidence that it was my fault?" the familiar voice of Tony Stark could be heard protesting loud and clear over the hush, hush murmurs from the other occupants of the room.

"Because whenever something goes wrong on this base you somehow manage to be involved," Fury said threateningly eyeing the genius standing in front of his desk with 2 other Avengers watching the exchange with polar opposite interest. Bruce was standing next to Tony with a nervous air about him while agent Barton just leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and a bored look on his face.

This was going to be a long day.

"Ah but for once you got it wrong Director Sparrow! This one was all Bruce's fault!" Tony said smugly - he was highly pleased that for once he was not the one who was technically the culprit. All eyes turned towards the quieter genius in the room with had the deer caught in headlights look on his face.

_Silence_.

"Banner…," Fury said carefully. Bruce stood there and gaped like a fish out of water. Stark had sold him out – his so called _best friend_. Everything he has done from him – down the drain and gone forever.

"Director I can explain…?" Bruce tried feebly.

"What the hell did you do now Stark?" a careful voice asked from directly behind the smug looking genius. Tony paled as the smug look instantly fell from his face and everyone quickly spun around to greet their late arrivals.

Agent Romanoff cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms as she waited for an answer with Captain America hovering behind her and a not so welcomed addition to their team silently slipping into the big ego infested room full of superheroes.

Bobbi made her snake like way towards the side of the room that held the reserved Hawkeye. If anyone knew _anything_ about agent Barton they could tell his anxiety level just skyrocketed the closer the woman got to him.

But that didn't mean the expression on his face changed for even a second.

If Morse thought Natasha didn't notice her move while she had her stare down with Stark the insane woman was dead, _dead_ wrong. Natasha narrowed her eyes and poor Tony paled even more as he thought the dark threats swirling in the Widow's eyes were directed at him.

"I told eye patches over here I didn't do anything Red! Bruce on the other hand...," Tony said trailing off and giving his science partner in crime a pointed look. Bruce huffed and threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Oh for the love of god we accidentally turned my radioactive blood into a highly flammable explosive substance and now level 6 research facilities are on uncontrollable _fire_ that doesn't go out okay?" Bruce said heatedly. That statement made every single murder plot in the heads of all the room's occupants come to a screeching halt.

_Everyone_ stared at him.

"_You_ accidentally turned your hulk blood explosive my friend - I was just the unfortunate bystander that nearly got taken out in the explosion!" Tony exclaimed with mock horror. Bruce scowled at him.

"Watch if I ever defend your ass again when you screw up big time in the future Stark. Just watch," Bruce said darkly.

"How could you even let it get _that_ bad Stark?" Steve asked in disbelief. Tony shot the righteous captain a dirty look.

"If you were a scientist you'd understand that not all results are predictable!" Tony said heatedly. Natasha shook her head in disgust.

"So now we're going to have to rebuild another section of our base because you couldn't keep your toys under control - is that it?" Natasha asked accusingly. Tony narrowed his eyes.

"As if you and your freaky assassin tendencies don't make a mess in the field Romanoff. How many bodies do you and Hawkass over then leave behind for SHIELD to clean up huh?" Tony shot back brutally. Natasha's eyes darkened.

"Maybe _your_ body will be next," Natasha said taking a dangerous step forward. Everyone in the room instantly tensed.

"Natasha...," Steve said carefully. Natasha took a deep breath and some of the darkness faded from her eyes. No one doubted that out of the suit she could kill Stark extremely fast.

"How do you even _stand_ this guy Bruce?" Natasha asked as she turned her dangerous gaze to burn into the timid doctor's head.

"The benefits," Bruce muttered. The insult on Tony's lips instantly died as he stared at his betraying best friend.

"You only like me because of the perks? I thought we were in a more serious relationship that that Banner!" Tony exclaimed a he held a hand over his chest like his pride just took a major blow.

"You're not exactly pleasant company Stark," Steve said carefully. Tony's eyes flashed towards the Captain standing next to the deadly she-devil of their team.

"Oh? And you're saying your crazy Russian girlfriend is as sweet as a cherry pie?" Tony asked sarcastically. Natasha looked ready to strangle the foul mouthed genius when the sound of a hand slamming down against a table echoed around the room.

_BAM_!

"ENOUGH!" Fury bellowed instantly bringing the back and forth pissing contest to a screeching halt. 3 edgy superheroes and 3 maddeningly different SHIELD agents all stared at their director with matching wary look.

"It's been nearly 6 months since New York and you all still act like _children_! Have you learned _nothing_ after saving the damn planet together?" Fury demanded. Everyone had the decency to look the slightest bit ashamed.

"I think it's a bit unfair to lump us _all_ with Stark's antics Director," Clint finally chimed into the conversation for the first time since he dragged Stark and Banner's asses into this office. Fury sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Can I just give you the mission details so that you 6 can be out of this country in less than 2 hours?" Fury said in defeat.

"Yes!" was the unanimous opinion of the room.

"Fine. You 6 are going to the world UN peacekeeping conference being held in Turkey in the next 3 days. You will infiltrate the conference together and take out the number 1 threat which is Li Baodong. After you secure that there are no internal threats during this extremely important diplomatic meeting you are going to take our their base in Turkey and makes sure the Black lotus group does not interfere with the negotiations that are going to be happening at this conference – make sure they never mess with anyone _ever_ _again_," Fury said seriously. This was a high kill order. Bruce gave the director a wary look.

"This sounds like a strictly SHIELD mission Fury – why are the rest of us here?" Bruce asked carefully. Fury gave him a measured look.

"I know. _My _agents are going in to get Intel and figure out where the Lotus terrorist base is. _You_ 3 are coming along for the big clean out," Fury said firmly. Bruce, Steve and Tony stared at him like he was crazy.

"You want Iron man, Captain America and a _Hulk_ to just storm into one of the biggest terrorist operations in the world and just burn it to the ground?" Bruce asked carefully. Fury looked like he wanted to roll his eyes.

"_No_. I want agent Romanoff and Agent Barton to come up with the best infiltration plan and _then_ have you 3 storm in there and burn it to the ground," Fury said steadily. Clint and Natasha instantly felt like banging their heads against the wall. _Worst phrasing ever._

That instantly started another fight.

"What are we - the _firepower_?" Tony asked in disgust. Clint sighed and tried to defuse the impending disaster.

"Fury is just stating skill sets Tony. Do you know how to infiltrate illegal government sanctioned operations?" Clint asked carefully. Tony shot him a dark look.

"Oh you would know all about infiltrating intelligence organization wouldn't you Barton?" Tony said just shy of sounding completely heartless. Everyone tensed as they watched a shadow cross over agent Barton's face. The Loki incident was still fresh in all their minds.

"_Tony_ that is a low blow and completely uncalled for," Bruce said instantly giving his friend a sharp look. Tony took a deep breath and looked away.

"Sorry Legolas. That one came out wrong," Tony muttered before his eyes took on a determined look. "But I am not a novice puppet that SHIELD can drag along on any random ass assignment. I have skilled outside of just wearing the suit. I know how to hack better than you do," Tony said firmly. Clint narrowed his eyes.

"Maybe you do because I'm not one of the best hackers in the world - but _she_ is," Clint said pointing directly across the room towards his partner. All eyes flashed towards a stiff agent Romanoff who was simply staring at her partner like she wanted to burn him into the ground. He stared back without a single change in his firm expression.

She was going to _kill_ him for sharing her skill set like it was information you shared at cocktail parties.

Natasha knew the second Stark's gaze started burning into her head he felt highly insulted and highly ego bruised. God damn it working with men like him was like walking on egg shells!

What was Barton _thinking_?

"Maybe you're good enough for the baby criminals SHIELD has you eliminate but-" Tony started to say but that instantly pissed Natasha off to high hell.

"-_First_ of all we do _not_ take out the small time criminals in the slums of nowhere. You and your ego are an insult to this organization! Me and agent Barton might not have damn super powers but we risk our _lives_ to take down some of the worst criminals in the world. We are sent after war lords, corrupt politicians, terrorists, sex traffickers and insane bastards who have ruined _thousands_ of lives. Don't you dare think that just because our work is not clean that it is not necessary," Natasha growled in his face. Tony glared back at her with his own fire in his eyes.

"We might not be SHIELD agents but we deserved to be treated like we have an IQ higher than 70," Tony said bitingly. Natasha angrily shook her head.

"Nobody is treating you like you like a child because you don't have the intelligence Stark. They treat you like a child because you _act_ like one! And the reason why I'll always be a more effective hacker then you is because you don't have the training to know _what you are looking for_," Natasha said steadily. Tony's eyes darkened.

"I can _learn_," he growled. Natasha's eyes darkened as she took a dangerous step towards him.

"Be my _guest_," she said threateningly. She tensed when a solid body wedged itself between her and the genius was who about to get shot with her bullets. She instantly recognized Steve's familiar scent and backed up when he pushed lightly against her shoulder.

"Why are we fighting over who has the longest stick here guys? Can't we can all just help with the plan and _all_ 6 of us carry out the armed take down?" Steve asked diplomatically trying to diffuse the tension in the room. Natasha and Tony continued to glare at each other over his shoulder – nobody cared to be diplomatic.

"I'm actually not a part of the taking down the terrorist base phase of this mission. I am just your liaison with security at the conference," Agent Morse chimed in. She was just here for recon with the authorities who will be monitoring the UN conference with their _own_ teams. Everyone gave her a wary look – they were still wondering why the _hell_ they needed her. Steve sighed.

"Okay fine - we're one agent down, but between the 5 of us we can easily burn this base to the ground. We have two master assassins, two geniuses who can both pack a punch and a super soldier - we all have unique skill sets that overlap _and that is okay_. Similar skills are good. Different skills are even better. If we figure out how we can max out all our potential in the field we'll be an even _better_ team. The Avengers is not about being a one man or woman show. It's about being able to overcome your own inflated egos and working together to accomplish something that would be damn near impossible to do on our own. We're not here for _us_ – we're here because it is our _duty_. Can we please just let the Director finish and work out who is doing what later?" Steve asked locking eyes with every single Avenger in the room – his eyes lingered on Natasha the longest and nobody missed that. They all nodded reluctantly and back down from the shouting match they were having. Steve sighed in relief and stepped away from the center of the room so that he was no longer the center of attention. Fury nodded approvingly.

"Thank you for controlling your team Captain. As I was saying everything you need about this mission is in these files. If you look at screen it shows the map of the conference and all the places SHIELD has gather Intel to locate the terrorist base," Fury said pressed a button on his desk and revealing a large satellite image of Istanbul and its surrounding area. Natasha half listened to the director's briefing. She would read the mission notes later.

"Nice speech," Natasha said quietly to Steve's left. He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"It - it just kills me that we could be such a good team if we can put the bickering aside and just _do_ our jobs you know?" Steve said with a sigh. Natasha smiled weakly.

"We _are_ a good team Cap - the bickering is how you know we actually care about these other assholes in the room," she said reassuringly.

"Sometimes I feel like we are fighting each other more then we fight the enemy," he muttered. Natasha snorted. She knew exactly what he meant.

The door suddenly burst open and disrupted the director's briefing. They all glanced behind them to see a slightly ruffled Agent Hill in the door way with suppressed dread in her eyes.

"Director Fury. We need you on level 6 right now. We can't control the fire," Agent Hill tensely as she glanced around the crowded room. All eyes instantly zone in on Banner. Bruce paled while Fury just sighed.

"Banner and agent Morse you're both coming with me. I still need to brief Morse on her role and _you_ doctor are going to fix this chaos before you leave on this mission. _Both of you out_," Fury said pointing a firm finger in the direction of the exit. Bruce stared at him in disbelief while agent Morse nearly looked relieved to get out of the tense room full of people who almost looked like they are ready to kill each other.

"It's going to be a _pleasure_ working with you all," she said as professionally as she could before she spun around and walked out of the room. They didn't believe a _single_ word out of her mouth had been sincere. Natasha scowled at her back as she left the office.

"Pleasure my _ass_ – this is what I call a nightmare," she muttered under her breath as she glanced over at her partner. He was taking deep breaths as he stared holes into the floor. This was not good for his mental state at all.

"But...but...why don't we take Tony with us? I'm not the only brain in the room!" Bruce said trying to get out of dealing with this situation alone. Fury gave him a menacing look.

"Cause you alone have _enough_ brain cells to fix this mess Doctor...and I don't want to deal with _him_," Fury said darkly before he grabbed Bruce by the collar of his shirt and dragged out of the room full of superheroes and agents that Fury thanked his lucky stars he only had to deal with once or twice a month. The second the door slammed shut on Bruce's terrified face Tony was already taking over Fury's technology.

"_Romanoff_!" he called out in a singsong voice. Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose and Clint chuckled quietly. Tony never learns when to shut up.

"What do you _want _from me Stark?" Natasha grounded out as she tried to keep the throbbing in her skull from turning into a full out migraine.

"Oi! Romanoff! Miss greatest spy hacker in the world - put your money where your mouth is and show me what you got," Tony said as he gesturing towards Fury's fancy computers plastered all over his walls.

Natasha _stared_ at him.

"You want me to hack my own organization mainframe?" Natasha deadpanned. Tony grinned like the mad genius he was.

"Are you chicken agent Romanoff?" Tony asked with a cocked eyebrow. Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"It's against regulations Stark...," Natasha said carefully. An evil smile spread across Stark's face.

"_Baaaaaaaaawok, bwok, bwok, bwok_. _Baaaaaaaaawok, bwok, bwok, bwok_," Tony started making chicken sounds as he made his arms look like chicken wings as he taunted her. Natasha's eye twitched maddeningly.

"You little _bastard_! I'm going to make your computer heart break," Natasha growled as she stomped across the room and shoved the genius out of the way to access the director's computer. Tony smirked in triumph while Clint and Steve both simultaneously shook their heads at their childish antics.

"Just to let you know I hacked all of SHIELD's top secret files in less than 4 hours," Tony said as he peaked over her shoulder to watch her hands fly across the keys. Natasha snorted. _Pathetic_.

"Again I repeat - you didn't know what you were looking for. I can hack them in 3," she said so smugly Tony knew he was missing something.

"Hours?" he asked weakly. Natasha smirked.

"_Minutes_," she said damningly. Tony gaped.

"LIAR!" he cried in disbelief. Natasha gave him the scariest assassin smile he had _ever_ seen.

"I _am_ a professional liar Stark- but I'm not lying right now," she said with an evil glint in her eyes.

On the other side of the room Steve had made the decision to settle himself against the wall beside a tense looking archer that was the object of his girlfriend's affections.

The world was just a messed up little place wasn't it?

"Still alive after a week with her Rogers?" Clint asked casually. Steve gave him a searching look. He felt no dangerous vibes coming off the assassin – that was _extremely_ suspicious based on his rash reaction last week.

"Still feeling the bruises on your knuckles Barton?" he shot back steadily. It might not have hurt – but Steve still didn't like being punched by his own teammate. Clint scoffed.

"Your pretty face is pretty damn _hard_," he muttered as he flexed the hand he used to do the dirty deed with. Steve sighed.

"Try talking out your frustration next time. I don't solve problems between teammates with my fists Barton," Steve said warily. Clint's eyes hardened but he didn't make any alarming movements towards the soldier leaning against the wall next to him.

Clint was perfectly still as his eyes were locked on someone else across the room.

"There isn't much to talk about between us. Let's talk about something worth talking about. Let's talk about _your_ girlfriend and _my_ partner. She's tense and has been off her game recently – did you know that?" Clint asked as they both watched the most significant girl in both their lives brutally put Stark in his place as she showed him up on his own hacking skills. Steve sighed.

"I know she is," Steve said tiredly.

"Do you know what's wrong?" Clint asked pretending like he didn't know a thing. He knew there was more than just Bobbi's presence that was messing with his partner's head. Something else was bothering her – and it killed him to have to ask her damn _boyfriend_ because she clearly couldn't tell him herself. Steve's eyes darkened as he listened to the words that made his blood boil. They are both _idiots_.

"Oh no I definitely know what's wrong. She is a stubborn, stubborn _mad_ woman," Steve said heatedly. Clint raised an eyebrow and gave him a wary look – that is not what he thinks boyfriends are supposed to say about their girl.

"She's a messed up piece of work- always has been," Clint said with a shrug. If Steve wasn't running the other way after seeing some of the nastier sides of his partner he must be worth something after all. Clint still didn't see exactly what Natasha was attracted to though – she was never into the squeaky clean types before and he didn't think he could be _this_ wrong about her.

They both instantly looked over towards the two avengers still having their pissing contest huddled around Fury's computer when they heard Stark shout in disbelief.

"Wait a minute! Wait a _damn_ minute! You just deleted an entire 20 minutes of security footage from level 3! Why did you do that for?" Tony asked suspiciously pushing Natasha to the side as he tried to get a better look at what exactly she was erasing.

Steve paled ever so slightly. He forgot every room had cameras in them. If anyone saw Natasha's serious moment of insanity or heard their shouting match both their lives would be screwed over. Natasha was always thinking ten steps ahead of him. That was what made her such a good spy. Natasha calmly shoved Stark's head out of her breathing space and changed the screen instantly.

"None of your business Stark. I proved I'm the better hacker – now go lick your wounds in a dark corner," Natasha said calmly as she wrote out a code and made everything on Fury's screen reset itself back to normal processing mode.

Tony just stood there and _gaped_.

"Things are more complicated that they seems aren't they?" Clint asked slowly as he watched the exchange with a careful look in his eyes. Steve gave his teammate such a sharp look it made Clint feel like he was missing something vital.

"You have _no_ idea," Steve said pushing himself off the wall and walking away before he said something Natasha would definitely kill him for. He didn't like it – but he understood why they couldn't let this happen right now. The second they finished this job he was going to publically break up with her, lock the two assassins in a closet and throw a ticking Stark bomb in there to speed up Natasha's confession time.

Stubborn assassins are the bane of this super soldier's existence. He was _never_ going to date an assassin if his life depended on it. Assassins are just _not_ good for your health.

Clint watched carefully as the Cap walked passed his partner and out of the room. He saw Steve shoot Natasha a pointed look which she returned it with a shake of her head. Steve huffed in frustration before he clenched his hands into fist and stalked out of the room.

It was the most suspicious nonverbal conversation Clint has _ever_ seen. He pushed himself off the wall and promptly walked out of the room himself. Natasha ignored his exit and turned back towards Stark to find him staring at her with a suspicious look on his face. Natasha felt like banging her head against the table – was _everyone_ picking up on the tension in the room today?

"Did I just miss something?" Tony asked carefully. Natasha sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Sometimes it's better not to stick your nose in other people's business Stark – for your _own_ health," she said tiredly. Tony whistled lowly and nodded.

"You're right. That didn't look very healthy to me _at all_. _That_ looked like a bomb that is going to cause a worse explosion then the one me and Bruce created," he said warily. Natasha shot him a burning glare.

"Don't talk about things you don't know anything about," Natasha hissed. Tony was about to respond with a biting sarcastic retort when Natasha's phone buzzed in her pocket. She angrily pulled it out and glanced down at the text on the screen.

'_We need to talk. In your quarters – right now.'_

_-C_

Natasha tensed as she read the message – _Shit. Shit. Shit. He knows._ She slammed the phone shut because she knew Stark was reading it over her shoulder as well. She spun around and grabbed him by collar of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. Tony took a sharp breath and narrowed his eyes.

"If you say _one_ word about this I will shoot you," Natasha growled threateningly in his face. Tony glanced down at the phone and back up at her storming green eyes. She was _not_ bluffing – but he was not a pushover either.

"Are you cheating on Steve with your own partner?" Tony asked accusingly. Natasha's eyes flashed.

"_No_. I'm not cheating on anyone," she hissed. Tony's eyes darkened.

"Then what the hell is going on Romanoff?" he demanded. Natasha tightened her grip on his shirt.

"It's none of your damn _business_ Stark!" she growled. Tony shook his head in disbelief.

"Natasha you are going to break half our team if you don't get a handle on whatever is happening between the 3 of you!" Tony said angrily. Natasha tensed – as if she didn't know that.

"Get out before I stab you," Natasha said dangerously close to following through with her threats. Tony glanced down at her twitching hand and sighed. She was such a pain in his ass.

"Fine. Deal with your shit _your_ way. Good luck on placating your enraged Hawk deadly Widow of SHIELD," he said with a mock salute towards the dangerous assassin before he promptly stormed out of the office before she unleashed her inner hulk on him.

He wanted to live to annoy the Widow another day. Tony narrowed his eyes as he stalked down the SHIELD hall – he also had deleted security footage to bring back from the dead. Natasha Romanoff was a pathological liar and he was going to unearth her secrets before she killed them all.

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**A/N: Clint **_**knows**_** something is not right between her and Steve. Natasha is going to get it now. Haha. **

**Intense Clintasha fight right before a mission? **

_**Oh**_** yeah. **

Round 13

Natasha wanted Clint's attention – she _definitely_ has it now – Natasha 5 : Evil 0

Steve dropped his own hints for Clint to pickup to get himself out of this shit – Steve 3 : evil 0

Everyone is clearly going to be keeping Bobbi at arm's length - Natasha 1: Evil 0

Tony is actually looking out for Steve and his feelings in the middle of this mess - Steve 3 : Evil 0

Total: Evil you getting taken down a notch today!

1st - Evil – 17

2nd - Natasha - 15

3rd - Steve – 14

**A/N: Clintasha showdown coming up next. **

**Review if you're still interested! I know I haven't updated in a while! But I will update the next chapter soon! **


	14. Chapter 14

**Rumor has it **

**A/N: Clint Barton has a special way of being pissed (well…at least this older post-Avengers version of him – I think all his young boyish temper is burned out of him by the end of I dare you). Now he is older, more mature and understands reality a lot better. **

**And then he just breaks your heart. **

**MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTER OF THIS STORY!**

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**Chapter 14 **

Natasha stiffly walked down the halls of SHIELD with her boots hitting the floor with a rhythmic sound as she clutched her cell phone in her hand. She knew she was walking towards her doom when she really should have been running in the opposite direction. But she wasn't a coward – at least not the type of coward that hid when she was challenged to a fight.

And he was _definitely_ challenging her to win the biggest fight of their partnership. Natasha came to a slow stop in front of her own quarters on base and took a steady breath. She placed her hand on the scanner beside the entrance and watched as the screen steadily read her hand print. She couldn't see through the metal door – she wasn't a super.

But Clint Barton was sitting on her bed while burning a hole through her door with his 100 yard sniper gaze – she could _feel_ it. When the green light on the pad flashed the door slid open and Natasha slipped into her quarters without a single glance back. The door shut behind her and they were basked in faint darkness save for the dull light coming in from her window. Natasha took a deep breath and finally looked up to lock eyes with the man who has been watching her back for over 10 years. He was silently sitting on the edge of her bed with his compacted bow resting in his hand and his mission duffle bag sitting on the ground beside his feet. He glanced down at his bow and gripped it tightly.

"Get your mission gear – we're leaving in a few minutes," he said quietly breaking the longstanding silence that permeated the room. Natasha shifted in place and unconsciously crossed her arms in a defensive manner.

"I thought you wanted to talk?" she asked carefully. Clint looked up and gave her an inscrutable look. Natasha tensed ever so slightly – he was righteously pissed at her. She could feel the cold supressed rage coming off of him in waves. Clint rarely got this angry at her.

_Well she was screwed. _

"Oh we're still going to talk," he said steadily. Even if his voice was deceptively calm his blue eyes stormed on and told a different story entirely. Natasha watched him with guarded eyes but he didn't say anything as he gestured towards her small SHIELD issued closet with her combat gear stored in it.

Natasha gave him one last searching look before she turned around and slowly crouched down on her knees to get her mission pack ready for departure. She had her back facing him – but that meant more in their world that a face to face to conversation ever would.

Because giving someone the opportunity to shoot you in the back but trusting them enough to believe that they never would was an honour very few ever received in their world. She packed her stuff as she waited for him to be the first to break the silence.

"We haven't been on the same page for the last few weeks Natasha," Clint started carefully. Natasha paused as she picked up her glock and stared at it intensely for a moment.

"I know," she said quietly as she placed the last weapon she planned on needing on this mission in her pack. She zipped the bag closed and slowly stood up without turning around.

"You want to tell me something?" he asked guardedly while burning a hole into her back. Natasha paused and then finally sighed.

"Not right this second Clint…," she said tiredly. However, when she turned around to face him she tensed when she found him standing no less than a foot behind her. _When did he get that fast?_

Clint stepped daringly into her personal space and Natasha inhaled a sharp breath as she stood still as a statue. She stared at him dead in the eye as he stopped an inch from her face and she felt strong archery enhanced arms snake around her waist and dragged her forward until she was pressed up against his strong frame. Natasha nearly laughed when she realized what he was doing.

He was _hugging_ her. Natasha felt like laughing herself to _tears_. He still approached her like she was a dangerous wild animal that could never be tamed – not even after all these years.

_Maybe she finally wanted to be tamed._

"Whatever is bothering you Natasha. Whatever is making you feel uncomfortable Tasha – you know you can tell me right? You know I'm your friend before anything else right?" Clint whispered earnestly as he held her tightly and buried his face her in her hair. Natasha paused as she felt her breath catch in her throat at the sincerity in his voice.

Barton was no innocent soldier who nearly died fighting for his country. He made mistakes and has a past that was nearly as dark as hers. His ledger was nearly as red as hers. His thoughts and nightmares were nearly as bad as hers. His sanity and humanity was nearly as torn and screwed up as hers.

But he was a _good_ man. Maybe not a great one – but a good one.

"That's easy Barton. _She_ makes me uncomfortable," she muttered darkly into the collar of his tactical suit. Clint pressed his forehead against her head and sighed.

"You and me _both_ Tasha," he said quietly. Natasha stiffened and tightly gripped the edge of his uniform as she hid her eyes against his warm chest.

"We don't need her on this mission – we can do Intel _ourselves_ Clint," she said angrily as she shook in his arms. Clint ran a soothing hand up and down her back and Natasha nearly melted on the spot. _She missed him._ She missed his hugs and his forever solid support. She missed her best friend in the middle of all the craziness of the past 2 weeks. She finally tore down some of the walls she felt she had to pull up between them since all this tension crap started and carefully wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged his back. She felt him catch his breath as he drew her closer and held her tighter against his solid frame.

"I know we can, but Fury put her on the team for a reason so we're going to have to deal with it. But cut the crap Tasha. That's not the only thing that is bothering you," he said carefully pulling back to be able to pin her with the full force of his stare.

"I...I'm just trying to fix some stuff right now...," she muttered hesitantly. Clint narrowed his eyes.

"_Tasha_…," he started sounding very seriously. Natasha breathed deeply and felt slightly lightheaded from being so close to him after so long. She never realized being infatuated with your partner would be this draining. It was exhausting to want someone but having to keep your distance even when you knew they wanted you back desperately.

_Tell him or not to tell him? _

_Bang! Bang! _

"Nat we're leaving in 5! Do you know where Barton is? He needs to start up the jet," a familiar voice shouted through the closed door. Clint felt her tense against him but she didn't pull away from his arms that were still tightly wrapped around her back and his fist buried in her shirt.

"Don't worry Steve I'll find him!" she called back without looking away from her partner's burning gaze. They both heard a noncommittal huff in response.

"Alright. Tell him to hurry up – before Fury kills Stark and Banner for the explosion they caused," Steve muttered before the two long term SHIELD agents both silently listened as the Cap's footsteps faded as he walked down the hall. Natasha tore her eyes away from his own and relocated her stare to his shoulder. She couldn't really look him in the eye right now. She felt him take a deep breath before he broke the silence again.

"You know you always had this rule of never mixing work and pleasure. You never gave any SHIELD agents a second glance. You have never been anything except professionally cold towards everyone you've ever worked with," Clint said quietly as he twirled her hair around his finger. _Everyone except for me of course._

"Steve is not a SHIELD agent Clint," she mumbled halfheartedly – what was she supposed to say? Clint paused.

"Is that why you're dating him? Because he doesn't conflict with your rules?" he asked guardedly.

"There isn't always a reason for everything – at least not a good one," she muttered. Clint narrowed his eyes and firmly tilting her head up so that she was forced to look at him dead in the eye.

"I'm a lot more observant then you think Natasha. You're not madly in love with him nor do you look at him like he gets you hot under the collar. I even doubt if you're attracted to him at all. So now I'm left wondering what on earth you are _doing_ with him Tasha," Clint said carefully. Natasha gave him a sharp look.

"You're not going to see anything while we're on base. I don't let feelings get in the way of my job Clint. I'm not going to treat him any differently while in the field. You're still my partner, he's still our team leader and we're going to do this mission flawlessly...or as flawlessly as all Avengers shit missions go," she muttered. Clint continued to stare at her with a hundred questions he would never ask swirling in his eyes.

"If you're dating him to make a statement Tasha - that's not fair to him," he said warningly. He knows she has broken a lot of hearts in the past and no matter what animosity he felt towards the Cap because of personal conflict of interest – he didn't want her to do that to him. Natasha had a rather _terrible_ reputation with men.

"Steve knows exactly what type of relationship we have," Natasha grounded out. Clint paused.

"What type of relationship Natasha? What _type_ of relationship?" Clint asked seriously. Natasha's eyes darkened.

"None of your _business_," she muttered as she finally pulled away from him. Clint had _enough_ and his faster than possible hands shot out and wrapped around her wrists halting her attempt to walk away from him.

"So that's it huh? 10 years as partners and you won't even look at me in the eye anymore? You won't even acknowledge what we are Natasha? You won't even admit that we have more damn chemistry that half the agents in this base combined? That the way you look at me now is not the _exact_ same way I've been looking at you for the last 10 years? Is this what you're trying to say Natasha?" Clint asked angrily. Natasha froze and felt her heart stop beating as his words hit her like a sucker punch in the gut.

"_No_! Clint I told you before-" she started to try and explain but he shook his head and cut her off.

"No. I understand why you turned me down all these years Natasha. I understand when we were younger and less skilled at our jobs that a relationship would have been a distraction that could have gotten us both killed. I understand you had a difficult time feeling anything and your head was filled with the desire to atone for your past. I _understand_ Tasha," Clint said firmly as he held her arms tightly in his grasp. "But we're _older_ now Tasha. We're stronger than we were before. We survived hundreds of missions together Tasha. We saved the _world_ together Tasha. SHIELD regulations are a joke now. And the first thing you do after we get posted on a new team is start a relationship with a teammate you barely knew for 6 months," he said shaking his head tiredly. Natasha heard both their SHIELD phones ringing behind them and sighed. They couldn't do this right now.

"We're leaving on a mission in minutes Clint. Don't start this right now," Natasha said trying to pull away from him and lock down all her emotions to deal with later - but he didn't let go. He just gripped her arms tighter and stopped her dead in her place.

"Forget work for just a minute Natasha. Just a minute," he said firmly holding her prisoner in front of him even if he knew that if she had _really_ wanted to leave he couldn't stop her. Natasha stared at him in a way that made him promptly continue.

"You told me a long time ago that I should stop waiting for something that is never going to happen – that's why I went for Bobbi. That was a disaster I'll admit, but I still tried to let you go and look where that landed me!" he said irritably. Natasha shook head as she felt her heart ache for his broken one.

"I'm sorry she broke your heart Clint. I didn't know. She was the last person you should have been in a relationship with," Natasha said rubbing her temples in frustration. She let it happen even when she had the worst feeling in the world about it – but she had thought it was because of her own stupid feelings she didn't want to think about back then. Clint took a steady breath as he watched her beat herself over about his own relationship failure.

"I don't think either of us knew how that one was going to end," he said with a dark chuckle. Natasha shook her head.

"We need to go," she muttered as she tried to pull away again but he just held on tighter. He had more to say. She needed to finally hear him say the things he wanted to say to her for _years_.

"But you know what Tasha? You told me to let you go. You told me to stop waiting - but I _never_ stopped waiting. I never stopped waiting for the day when you would finally let yourself want me _back_ Tasha," he said earnestly. Natasha froze.

"Clint-" Clint angrily shook his head - he wasn't done.

"You don't look at him like you look at me Natasha. You two look like awkward cousins trying to play house and it's driving me _crazy_ Natasha! Why the hell are you messing around with him?" he shouted furiously. Natasha tensed.

"I'm not hurting him!" she growled. Clint stared at her in disbelief.

"Yea you are! Did you _actually_ sleep with him Natasha? We all knew he was a virgin which meant he had no fucking clue what he was doing if you did. Did you?" he growled as he shook her back and forth. Natasha remained stubbornly silent - she refused to answer questions that were yelled at her. Clint narrowed his eyes.

"Did you kiss him Natasha? Have you actually done any of the shit Tony was spewing last week at all?" he demanded. Natasha gritted her teeth.

"Yes but-" she tried to tell him to shut up and let her explain some shit but he was too caught up with the things he hasn't been able to say before because she had never _let_ him.

"Did you like it Tasha? Is an innocent inexperienced boy really what you want? Because I think that is _bullshit_. Was it the same as kissing me? Would he make you forgot you are on an assignment if he kissed you during a cover operation Tasha? Does he make you lose focus of the world around you Tasha? Does he leave you breathless like you know I do Tasha? _Does he_?" he growled with clear jealousy flashing in his eyes like he never let her see before. Natasha could barely breathe _right now. _

"That's not your-" she started to protest but his eyes flashed in rage.

"Oh trust me you're well past my business Natasha Romanoff. You ruined me for all other women and you _know_ it Tasha. And something tells me I ruined you for all men too," Clint said daringly. Natasha's eyes flashed in anger even as her heart skipped a beat. It was like a war between the girl who grew up believing she needed no one and the girl who wanted to be needed by Clint Barton.

"That's not _true_!" she growled. She might accept that she wanted him but her feelings didn't control her. They didn't control who she was damn it. Clint furiously shook his head.

"You know the only reason you didn't let us be what we could have been was because you were _scared_ Natasha! You're so fucking scared to feel anything too deep because then you lose your god damn control! It's always about control with you!" he said angrily griping her arms in his steel like grasp. Natasha's eyes hardened.

"What is wrong with wanting to control my lif-" she started to growl but the next thing she knew she was being dragged forward and had rough distantly familiar lips crashing down on hers and silencing her pathetic denial. Natasha froze as she instantly got overwhelmed by the sudden intense attack on her senses and her brain short circuited as she realized what was happening.

_Holy shit she was kissing Clint Barton her partner of 10 god damn years. _

Natasha tried to frantically mumble something against his heated lips but he just firmly wrapped his arms around her waist and did something unexpected with his tongue that had her go slack and melt into his kiss as he poured every pent up emotion he ever felt towards her into this one intense moment. Natasha couldn't even keep her eyes open as she involuntarily moaned in pleasure and felt him walk them backwards until her back hit the wall. She'd be lying if she said she didn't dream about him doing exactly what he was doing right now. She'd be lying if she didn't say she wanted him to do it _again and again and again._

She was just one big damn liar at the end of the day.

Natasha heard their SHIELD phones ringing obnoxiously in the background hazy half aware part of her mind that wasn't caught up in the fact that she was pressed up against the cold wall of her own SHIELD assigned quarters with one of her partner's hands buried in her hair and the other hand dangerously inching up the back of her shirt. She unconsciously wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer and tilted his head to the side to deepen their kiss.

While Natasha was just coming along with the intense ride Clint was just honestly about to lose his mind as years and _years_ of suppressed desire coursed through his veins as he roughly shoved her harder against the wall and felt her wrap her long deadly legs around his waist. He felt the heat of her body wrap about him as well and he nearly would have dropped her altogether if he didn't brace his arms against the wall on either side of her head and kiss her harder and with more intensity then he has ever kissed any other woman in his _life_.

Natasha wasn't a perfect woman – not by a long shot. She had scars all over her body from years of working the field doing just as many dangerous jobs as he has. She has major bad habits that sometimes granted on his nerves like no tomorrow. She was sarcastic to a fault and made horrible personal decisions - but she was exactly what he wanted.

She was the _only_ thing he wanted. She had always been the one thing he wanted more than _anything_ else and could just never have because she didn't want him back. He didn't know what changed her mind and in this particular moment he didn't care - but he would definitely care _later_.

Right now he was too busy trying to come to terms with the fact that he was kissing Natasha Romanoff - _and she wasn't stopping him. _

He wanted this for a damn long time. He wanted _her_ for a damn long time. He was reeling from the feeling of having her in his arms and having her actually _kissing him back_. Natasha had never accepted his advances in the past. She always stopped things before they even got started. She has rebuked him again and again and again. She drove him crazy. Working with her as her partner, being her friend and nothing more, watching her seduce marks while he watched her back from the shadows - it was like his own personal torment in hell. The only times he has ever been allowed to kiss her was during missions when other people were watching them too carefully.

The sad truth was that he has never kissed her while it was just the two of them alone without a million important plays banking on their performance. Right now wasn't a mission necessitated performance. Right now wasn't an _act_. The way she desperately pulled him closer was definitely not an act and Clint felt like crying in relief because he was so damn glad he hadn't been completely wrong as to believe that his cold stubborn Russian partner _actually_ felt something for him too.

Because if she didn't feel something she wouldn't stare at him like he was the only man she could see even when they were in a crowd of people. If she didn't feel something she wouldn't jump in front of bullets for him in missions gone south all over the world. If she didn't feel something she wouldn't bring together a damn team of messed up superheroes to bring him back from the brick of insanity. If she didn't feel something she wouldn't throw herself into a world of magic, aliens, superheroes, or into a war that was not their fight. If Natasha Romanoff didn't feel something for him she wouldn't be here right now letting him kiss the breath right out of her lungs like he was burning to do for _years_.

When the need for oxygen reared its ugly head at the back of his mind Clint momentarily debated on ignoring it and just kissing her until he literally ran out of breath and passed out. But he didn't think she would appreciate having to explain why and how exactly she managed to make her partner fall unconscious so he reluctantly pulled away from her dangerously addicting lips and simply attacked the side of her neck with the same intensity he bestowed upon her lips.

If he felt some twisted dark male satisfaction when she gasped as he lightly bit her exposed part of her shoulder he would never tell her unless he wanted to be stabbed. He wanted to mark her. He wanted to tell the whole damn world that she was _his_. Since the day he lowered his bow and offered her the chance at redemption Clint Barton has always owned a part of Natasha Romanoff's soul.

But he was a selfish, selfish man and he wanted _all_ of her. He had always wanted all of her. She just refused him over and over again. But he was rapidly starting to lose his legendry patience. How much patience did he need? How many more years did he have to wait? He was nearly bankrupt and fresh out of patience. He needed to know that she wanted him too – he needed to know _soon_. Because if he grabbed onto her now he was never going to let her go. Never. She would be stuck with him forever.

"_Tasha_," he whispered fervently against her neck as he held her tighter as he left a trail of hot wet kisses down her neck.

And that was like a bucket of cold ice water. Natasha instantly froze because she still hasn't told him Steve was a lie and that would piss him off all over again. Clint immediately misinterpreted her stiffening and promptly pulled away while inhaling a deep ragged breath.

They had just crossed a massive, _massive_ line in their partnership and it wasn't without external complications.

"_Shit_! I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't kiss you while you're still with _him_," he muttered darkly while trying to catch his harsh breath. Natasha breathed heavily and shook her head. What the hell was he saying? She couldn't think straight with him doing things like that. He made her completely lose focus on what's going on around her.

"What? No Clint it's not-_ugh_!" she growled as she tried to get the words right in her head. Why couldn't she just play a character and say her lines flawlessly? Why couldn't she just use the Widow's confidence to get through this? She had her own answer.

Because anything fake would instantly shut him down - but Natasha Romanoff was just not good at this honesty crap.

Honestly - honesty was overrated.

Clint rubbed his hands over his face and took a tired breath.

"Do you like me Natasha? Or are you going to try and lie and tell me that kiss just now meant shit? Because I think we both know any crap you try to say after _that_ is just pathetic lies," Clint said firmly. No one has ever kissed him like that. And he has seen her kiss hundreds of marks and she never kissed one like she just kissed him right now. That was not a petty kiss. That was her kissing him back with all she was worth. Natasha opened and closed her mouth trying to calm her racing thoughts and looking like a woman who has been through, through kissed.

"Clint. That was - this is- can we talk about this while I'm not shoved up against a wall with my legs wrapped around your damn waist _please_?" she asked irritably gesturing towards their highly provocative position. Clint narrowed his eyes.

"No. Because if I put you down you'll just run away," he said tightening his grip on her thighs and firmly pressing her into the wall. Natasha inhaled a sharp breath as she felt every part of his firm chest pressed up against her own and it was driving her hormones crazy.

"It's kind of impossible to hold a god damn conversation when your distracting chest in the way!" she growled without exactly thinking her words through first. Clint blinked.

"You think my chest is distracting?" he asked in amusement. Natasha sputtered in disbelief.

"Stop it! We need to deal with this crap and you need to put me down _right now_," she said threateningly. Clint watched her fume in place with a wary look. She honestly looked like she really didn't want to be here. Clint sighed.

"Sometimes you really give me messed up mixed signals Natasha. You look at me sometimes like you want nothing more than to drag me in a closet and have your way with me - but then you went and did that with Rogers so I chalk it up to our normal chemistry that's always been there," Clint said tiredly running a hand through his messy brown hair. "And I lie to myself. I tell myself that there's no point in feeling something for your partner Clint - because she'll never want you back. But then your eyes soften Natasha and that's when I _know_ it's not just physical attraction! I know it. You know it. We both know it damn it. You kiss me like you're echoing everything I have ever felt for you Natasha and yet you're still with _him_!" he shouted as he slammed both his hands against the wall on either side of her face - nearly causing her to have a heart attack as he pressed her harder against the wall. She was going to die from his proximity alone. Just mentally burst into _flames_.

"I know! I'm trying to fix this shit but we don't have _time_ right now. It's stupid and complicated Clint," she said angrily. Clint firmly shook his head.

"No it's not Tasha. You just make your own life complicated," he said tiredly. She always makes her life more complicated than it has to be.

"I don't know what you want me to _do_ damn it!" Natasha said angrily running her hand through her short hair. Clint gave her a wary look.

"Just... just figure out what you really want Natasha. You can lie to yourself about Steve all you want Tasha– but you don't want him. I'll back off it's not me either," he said softly brushing the back of his hand against her cheek. Natasha stared at him with a hundred things she wanted to say – but not enough courage to say them.

"Clint…," she said painfully. Clint gave her a weak smile that nearly broke her cold Russian heart.

"You're beautiful Natasha. You are an amazing fighter and an ingenious agent. You are one of the best assassins in the world. You've made hundreds of men fall for you in the past and I know a hundred more will fall for you in the future. I guess it's my fault for falling for a woman I know only leaves broken bones and broken hearts in her wake," he said softly rubbing his thumb against her cheek.

Natasha shook her head while staring at him with words she didn't have lodged in her throat. She has never felt closer to crying then she did right now. She thinks she finally understands what damn heart break feels like – she's seen in on enough faces to know it was on her face right now. She froze as he leaned forward and ran his rough hand through her short red hair. She involuntarily closed her eyes as she felt his warm lips brush against her cheek.

"See you on the jet Tasha – partners forever remember?" he whispered against her cheek before he finally pulled back away from the wall, dropped her to her feet and silently slipped out of her room.

_Partners forever_.

Natasha stood there for several minutes trying to understand what on earth she just let happen. She took two steps back and hit the wall again before she slid down to the floor while trying to keep breathing even when she felt like she forgot how.

She needed this mission to be over fast.

"I want you Clint. I've always wanted you," she whispered into her knees. She buried her head in her arms and took a shaky breath. She didn't want to be the damn heartbreaker anymore. She didn't want hundreds of men falling in love with her anymore. She didn't want to be a world class seductress anymore.

She wanted to be the girl _he_ wanted. She wanted to be someone agent Barton actually deserved.

She wasn't that someone right now.

She's made a lot of mistakes in her life. She's has regretted a lot of things in her past. She wasn't going to make letting him go the biggest regret of her life.

Natasha banged her head back against the wall she just had her breath kissed right out of her against and stared at the ceiling in disbelief.

She needed to break up with Steve and she needed to tell Barton the damn truth - it was just humiliating to tell him it was all a ruse to begin with. Why did she even do it in the first place?

She needed to get a time machine and kick her _own_ ass.

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**A/N: Mission start time! Woo! OMG - finally a Clintasha kiss in this story eh? **

**Clintasha **_**heart**__**break**_**! **

**He doesn't know Steve is a lie. He just knew she doesn't actually like Steve. Clint always knew Natasha had feelings for him – she just refused to act on them because of their jobs. This was their first non-mission related kiss. **

**Round 14**

Clint knows she doesn't like Steve - Natasha 1: Evil 0

FIRST CLINTASHA KISS – Natasha 10 : Evil 0 (LOL BIG POINTS)

Natasha is finally got to fix this mess - Natasha 1: Evil 0

Total: Evil get out of here!

1st - Natasha - 27

2nd - Evil – 17

3rd - Steve – 14

A/N: **Damn it took a long time in the story to have their "first kiss". The ANGST got in the way!**

**Exams are coming so my next update will be around the end of June. **

**Was this chapter worth the wait? **


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